Ill  ill 


Division       l^L^IO 
Section        .K/O 


THE 

THE  VEIL  OF  ISIS; 


OR, 


MYSTERIES  OF  THE  DRUIDS 


BY 


W.  WINWOOD   READE. 


By  the  bright  circle  of  the  golden  sun, 
By  the  bright  courses  of  the  errant  moon, 
By  the  dread  potency  of  every  star, 
In  the  mysterious  Zodiac's  burning  girth, 
By  each  and  all  of  these  supernal  signs, 
We  do  adjure  thee,  with  this  trusty  blade 
To  guard  yon  central  oak,  whose  holy  stem, 
Involves  the  spirit  of  high  Taranis: 
Be  this  thy  charge."— Mason. 


- 


S\OS 


NEW  YORK. 
PETER  ECKLER,  PUBLISHER, 

35  FULTON  STREET. 


DEDICATION. 


TO    EMILY  *  *  *. 

As  those  presents  are  always  the  most  fashionable, 
and  sometimes  the  most  valued,  which  cannot  be 
used,  I  give  you  this  book,  which  you  will  not  be 
able  to  read,  but  which,  perhaps,  you  will  kindly 
preserve  in  memory  of  its  writer. 

An  author  can  pay  no  higher  compliment  to  a 
friend  than  to  dedicate  to  her  a  work  upon  which  he 
has  spent  much  labor  and  anxiety.  This  effort  of  a 
young  man  to  redeem  a  mistake,  perhaps  a  fault,  in 
his  literary  life,  deserves  to  be  sealed  with  your 
name,  for  it  is  you  who  have  repeatedly  urged  him 
to  the  task,  and  presided  over  it  like  a  guardian 
angel,  with  kind  and  consoling  words. 


CONTENTS 


BOOK  THE  FIRST. 
DARKNESS. 

BOOK  THE  SECOND. 
ABORIGINES. 


I. — Albion      , 
II.— Britain 
III. — Analysis  . 
IV.  — Description 


FACE 
27 

29 

34 
37 


BOOK  THE  THIRD, 

THE  DRUIDS. 
I. — Origin  . 

II. — Power    .... 
III. — The  Derwydd,  or  Philosophers 
IV. — The  Bardd,  or  Musicians 
V. — The  Ovades,  or  Noviciates 
VI. — Rites  and  Ceremonies  . 
VII. — Priestesses  ... 

5 


5i 
55 
62 

81 

87 

91 

106 


Contents. 

BOOK  THE  FOURTH. 
THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  DRUIDS. 


BOOK  THE  FIFTH. 

VESTIGES  OF  DRUIDISM. 

I. — In  the  Ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  Rome  .       135 

II. — In  the  Emblems  of  Freemasonry  .  172 

III.— In  Rustic  Folk-Lore  .  .191 


APPENDIX. 


BOOK    THE    FIRST. 


DARKNESS 


THE  VEIL  OF  ISIS; 

OR, 

THE  MYSTERIES  OF  THE  DRUIDS. 


THERE  is  no  study  so  saddening,  and  none  so 
sublime  as  that  of  the  early  religions  of  man- 
kind. To  trace  back  the  worship  of  God  to  its  simple 
origin,  and  to  mark  the  gradual  process  of  those 
degrading  superstitions,  and  unhallowed  rites  which 
darkened,  and  finally  extinguished  His  presence  in 
the  ancient  world. 

At  first  men  enjoyed  the  blessings  of  nature  as 
children  do,  without  inquiring  into  causes.  It  was 
sufficient  for  them  that  the  earth  gave  them  herbs, 
that  the  trees  bore  them  fruit,  that  the  stream  quenched 
their  thirst.  They  were  happy,  and  every  moment 
though  unconsciously  they  offered  a  prayer  of  grati- 
tude to  Him  whom  as  yet  they  did  not  know. 

And  then  a  system  of  theology  arose  amongst 
them  vague  and  indefinite,  as  the  waters  of  the  bound- 
less sea.     They  taught  each  other  that  the  sun,  and 

9 


io  Darkness, 

the  earth,  the  moon,  and  the  stars  were  moved  and 
illumined  by  a  Great  Soul  which  was  the  source  of 
all  life,  which  caused  the  birds  to  sing,  the  brooks  to 
murmur,  and  the  sea  to  heave.  It  was  a  sacred  Fire 
which  shone  in  the  firmament,  and  in  mighty  flames. 
It  was  a  strange  Being  which  animated  the  souls  of 
men,  and  which  when  the  bodies  died,  returned  to 
itself  again. 

They  silently  adored  this  Great  Soul  in  the  be- 
ginning, and  spoke  of  Him  with  reverence,  and 
sometimes  raised  their  eyes  timidly  to  His  glittering 
dwelling-place  on  high. 

And  soon  they  learned  to  pray.  When  those 
whom  they  loved  lay  dying,  they  uttered  wild  lamen- 
tations, and  flung  their  arms  despairingly  towards 
the  mysterious  Soul;  for  in  times  of  trouble  the 
human  mind  so  imbecile,  so  helpless,  clings  to  some- 
thing that  is  stronger  than  itself. 

As  yet  they  worshipped  only  the  sun,  the  moon, 
and  the  stars — and  not  as  Gods  but  as  visions  of  that 
Divine  Essence,  which  alone  ruled  and  pervaded  the 
earth,  the  sky,  and  the  sea. 

They  adored  Him  kneeling,  with  their  hands 
clasped,  and  their  eyes  raised.  They  offered  Him 
no  sacrifices,  they  built  Him  no  temples;  they  were 
content  to  offer  Him  their  hearts  which  were  full  of 
awe,  in  His  own  temple  which  was  full  of  grandeur. 


Bareness.  n 

And  it  is  said  that  there  are  yet  some  barbarous 
islands  where  men  have  no  churches  nor  ceremonies, 
and  where  they  worship  God,  reflected  in  the  work 
of  His  thousand  hands. 

But  they  were  not  long  content  with  this  simple 
service.  Prayer  which  had  first  been  an  inspiration 
fell  into  a  system,  and  men  already  grown  wicked 
prayed  the  Deity  to  give  them  abundance  of  wild 
beast's  skins,  and  to  destroy  their  enemies. 

They  ascended  eminences,  as  if  hoping  that  thus 
being  nearer  God,  He  would  prefer  their  prayers  to 
those  of  their  rivals.  Such  is  the  origin  of  that 
superstitious  reverence  for  high  places  which  was 
universal  throughout  the  whole  of  the  heathen  world. 

Then  Orpheus  was  born.  And  he  invented  instru  - 
ments  which  to  his  touch  and  to  his  lips,  gave  forth 
notes  of  surpassing  sweetness,  and  with  these  melo- 
dies he  enticed  the  wondering  savages  into  the 
recesses  of  the  forest,  and  there  taught  them  precepts 
of  obedience  to  the  great  Soul,  and  of  loving-kind- 
ness towards  each  other  in  harmonious  words. 

So  they  devoted  groves  and  forests  to  the  worship 
of  the  Deity. 

There  were  men  who  had  watched  Orpheus,  and 
who  had  seen  and  envied  his  power  over  the  herd 
who  surrounded  him.  They  resolved  to  imitate  him, 
and  having  studied  these  barbarians,  they  banded 


12  E>arfeness. 

together,  and  called  themselves  their  priests.  Re- 
ligion *is  divine,  but  its  ministers  are  men.  And 
alas!  sometimes  they  are  demons  with  the  faces  and 
wings  of  angels. 

The  simplicity  of  men,  and  the  cunning  of  their 
priests  has  destroyed  or  corrupted  all  the  religions 
of  the  world. 

These  priests  taught  the  people  to  sacrifice  the 
choicest  herbs  and  flowers.  They  taught  them  for- 
mulas of  prayer,  and  bade  them  make  so  many 
obeisances  to  the  sun,  and  to  worship  those  flowers 
which  opened  their  leaves  when  he  rose,  and  which 
closed  them  as  he  set. 

They  composed  a  language  of  symbols  which  was 
perhaps  necessary,  since  letters  had  not  been  in- 
vented, but  which  perplexed  the  people  and  perverted 
them  from  the  worship  of  the  one  God. 

Thus  the  sun  and  moon  were  worshipped  as 
emblems  of  God,  and  fire  as  an  emblem  of  the  sun, 
water  as  an  emblem  of  the  moon. 

The  serpent  was  to  be  worshipped  also  as  an  em- 
blem of  wisdom  and  eternal  youth,  since  it  renews 
its  skin  every  year,  and  thus  periodically  casts  off 
all  symptoms  of  old  age. 

And  the  bull,  most  vigorous  of  animals,  and  whose 
horns  resemble  those  of  the  crescent  moon. 

The  priests  observed  the  avidity  with  which  the 


Darkness.  13 

barbarians  adored  these  symbols,  and  increased  them. 
To  worship  the  visible  is  a  disease  of  the  soul  inher- 
ent to  all  mankind,  and  the  disease  which  these 
men  could  have  healed  they  pandered  to. 

It  is  true  that  the  first  generation  of  men  might 
have  looked  upon  these  merely  as  the  empty  symbols 
of  a  Divine  Being,  but  it  is  also  certain  that  in  time 
the  vulgar  forgot  the  God  in  the  emblem,  and  wor- 
shipped that  which  their  fathers  had  only  honored. 
Egypt  was  the  fountain-head  of  these  idolatries,  and 
it  was  in  Egypt  that  the  priests  first  applied  real 
attributes  to  the  sun,  and  to  the  moon  whom  they 
called  his  wife. 

It  may  perhaps  interest  you  to  listen  to  the  first 
fable  of  the  world. 

From  the  midst  of  chaos  was  born  Osiris,  and  at 
his  birth  a  voice  was  heard  proclaiming — "  The  ruler 
of  all  the  earth  is  born." 

From  the  same  dark  and  troubled  womb  were 
born  Isis  the  Queen  of  Light,  and  Typhon  the  Spirit 
of  Darkness. 

This  Osiris  traveled  over  the  whole  world,  and 
civilized  its  inhabitants,  and  taught  them  the  art  of 
agriculture.  But  on  his  return  to  Egypt  the  jealous 
Typhon  laid  a  stratagem  for  him,  and  in  the  midst  of 
a  banquet  had  him  shut  up  in  a  chest  which  exactly 
fitted  his  body.     He  was  nailed  down  in  his  prison, 


14  Darftness. 

which  cast  into  the  Nile  floated  down  to  the  sea  by 
the  Taitic  mouth,  which  even  in  the  time  of  Plutarch 
was  never  mentioned  by  an  Egyptian  but  with 
marks  of  detestation. 

When  Isis  learnt  these  sad  new  she  cut  off  a  lock 
of  her  hair,  and  put  on  her  mourning  robes,  and 
wandered  through  the  whole  country  in  search  of  the 
chest  which  contained  the  dead  body  of  her  husband. 

At  length  she  learnt  that  the  chest  had  been  car- 
ried by  the  waves  to  the  shore  of  Byblos,  and  had 
there  lodged  in  the  branches  of  a  tamarisk  bush, 
which  quickly  shot  up  and  became  a  large  and  beau- 
tiful tree,  growing  round  the  chest  so  that  it  could 
not  be  seen. 

The  king  of  the  country  amazed  at  the  vast  size  the 
tree  had  so  speedily  acquired,  ordered  it  to  be  cut 
down  to  be  hewn  into  a  pillar  to  support  the  roof  of 
his  palace — the  chest  being  still  concealed  in  the 
trunk. 

The  voice  which  had  spoken  from  Heaven  at  the 
birth  of  Osiris  made  known  these  things  to  poor  Isis, 
who  went  to  the  shore  of  Byblos  and  sat  down  silently 
by  a  fountain  to  weep.  The  damsels  of  the  queen 
met  her  and  accosted  her,  and  the  queen  appointed 
her  to  be  nurse  to  her  child.  And  Isis  fed  the  infant 
with  her  finger  instead  of  with  her  breast,  and  put 
him  every  night  into  tire  to  render  him  immortal, 


Darftness.  i5 

while  transforming  herself  into  a  swallow  she  hov- 
ered round  the  pillar  which  was  her  husband's  tomb, 
and  bemoaned  her  unhappy  fate, 

It  happened  that  the  queen  thus  discovered  her, 
and  shrieked  when  she  saw  her  child  surrounded  by 
flames.  By  that  cry  she  broke  the  charm  and  de- 
prived him  of  immortality. 

By  that  cry  Isis  was  summoned  back  to  her  god- 
dess-form, and  stood  before  the  awe-struck  queen  shi- 
ning with  light  and  diffusing  sweet  fragrances  around. 

She  cut  open  the  pillar,  and  took  the  coffin  with 
her,  and  opened  it  in  a  desert.  There  she  embraced 
the  cold  corpse  of  Osiris,  and  wept  bitterly. 

She  returned  to  Egypt  and  hid  the  coffin  in  a 
remote  place:  but  Typhon,  hunting  by  moonlight, 
chanced  to  find  it,  and  divided  the  corpse  into  four- 
teen pieces.  Again  Isis  set  out  on  her  weary  search 
throughout  the  whole  land,  sailing  over  the  fenny 
parts  in  a  boat  made  of  papyrus.  She  recovered  all 
the  fragments  except  one  which  had  been  thrown 
into  the  sea.  Each  of  these  she  buried  in  the  place 
where  she  found  it,  which  explains  why  in  Egypt 
there  are  so  many  tombs  of  Osiris. 

And  instead  of  the  limb  which  was  lost,  she  gave 
the  phallus  to  the  Egyptians — the  disgusting  wor- 
ship of  which  was  thence  carried  into  Italy,  into 
Greece,  and  into  all  the  countries  of  the  East. 


16  s>arfeness. 

When  Isis  died,  she  was  buried  in  a  grove  near 
Memphis.  Over  her  grave  was  raised  a  statue 
covered  from  head  to  foot  with  a  black  veil.  And 
underneath  was  engraved  these  divine  words : 

/  am  all  that  has  been,  that  is,  that  shall  be,  and 
none  among  mortals  has  yet  dared  to  raise  my  veil. 

Beneath  this  veil  are  concealed  all  the  mysteries 
and  learning  of  the  past.  A  young  scholar,  his 
fingers  covered  with  the  dust  of  venerable  folios,  his 
eyes  weary  and  reddened  by  nightly  toil  will  now 
attempt  to  lift  a  corner  of  this  mysterious  and  sacred 
covering. 

These  two  Deities,  Isis  and  Osiris  were  the  parents 
of  all  the  Gods  and  Godesses  of  the  Heathens,  or 
were  indeed  those  Gods  themselves  worshipped  un- 
der different  names.  The  fable  itself  was  received 
into  the  mythologies  of  the  Hindoos  and  the  Ro- 
mans. Sira  is  said  to  have  mutilated  Brahma  as 
Typhon  did  Osiris,  and  Venus  to  have  lamented  her 
slain  Adonis,  as  Isis  wept  for  her  husband-god. 

As  yet  the  sun  and  moon  alone  were  worshipped 
under  these  two  names.  And  as  we  have  seen, 
besides  these  twin  beneficial  spirits,  men  who  had 
begun  to  recognize  sin  in  their  hearts  had  created 
an  Evil  One  who  struggled  with  the  power  of  light, 
and  fought  with  them  for  the  souls  of  men. 

It  is  natural  for  man  to  fabricate  something  that 


2>arfeness.  17 

is  worse  than  himself.  Even  in  the  theology  of  the 
American  Indians  which  is  the  purest  of  the  modern 
world,  there  is  found  a  Mahitou  or  dark  Spirit. 

Osiris  or  the  sun  was  now  worshipped  throughout 
the  whole  world,  though  under  different  names.  He 
was  the  Mithra  of  the  Persians,  the  Brahma  of  India, 
the  Baal  or  Adonis  of  the  Phoenicians,  the  Apollo  of 
the  Greeks,  the  Odin  of  Scandinavia,  the  Hu  of  the 
Britons,  and  the  Baiwe  of  the  Laplanders. 

Isis  also  received  the  names  of  Islene,  Ceres,  Rhea, 
Venus,  Vesta,  Cybele,  Niobe,  Melissa — Nehalennia 
in  the  North;  Isi  with  the  Indians;  Puzza  among  the 
Chinese;  and  Ceridwen  among  the  ancient  Britons. 

The  Egyptians  were  sublime  philosophers  who  had 
dictated  theology  to  the  world.  And  in  Chaldeea 
arose  the  first  astrologers  who  watched  the  heavenly 
bodies  with  curiosity  as  well  as  with  awe,  and  who 
made  divine  discoveries,  and  who  called  themselves 
The  Interpreters  of  God. 

To  each  star  they  gave  a  name,  and  to  each  day 
in  the  year  they  gave  a  star. 

And  the  Greeks  and  Romans  who  were  poets, 
wreathed  these  names  into  legends.  Each  name 
was  a  person,  each  person  was  a  god. 

From  these  stories  of  the  stars  originated  the 
angels  of  the  Jews,  the  genii  of  the  Arabs,  the  heroes 
of  the  Greeks,  and  the  saints  of  the  Romish  Church. 


18  Barfeness. 

Now  corruption  grew  upon  corruption,  and  super- 
stition flung  a  black  and  hideous  veil  over  the  doc- 
trines of  religion.  A  religion  is  lost  as  soon  as  it 
loses  its  simplicity:  truth  has  no  mysteries:  it  is 
deceit  alone  that  lurks  in  obscurity. 

Men  multiplied  God  into  a  thousand  names,  and 
created  Him  always  in  their  own  image.  Him,  too, 
whom  they  had  once  deemed  unworthy  of  any 
temple  less  noble  than  the  floor  of  the  earth  and  the 
vast  dome  of  the  sky,  they  worshipped  in  caves,  and 
then  in  temples  which  were  made  of  the  trunks  of 
trees  rudely  sculptured,  and  ranged  in  rows  to  imitate 
groves,  and  with  other  trunks  placed  upon  them 
traversely. 

Such  were  the  first  buildings  of  worship  erected 
by  man  from  no  reverence  for  the  Deity,  but  to 
display  that  which  they  doubtless  conceived  to  be  a 
stupendous  effort  in  art. 

It  may  not  be  needless  to  remind  some  of  my 
readers  that  a  superior  being  must  view  the  elegant 
temples  of  the  Romans,  the  gorgeous  pagodas  of 
India,  and  our  own  Gothic  cathedrals  with  feelings 
similar  to  those  with  which  we  contemplate  the  rude 
efforts  of  the  early  heathens,  who  deemed  God  un- 
worthy of  the  fruits  and  flowers  which  he  himself 
had  made,  and  offered  to  him  the  entrails  of  beasts, 
and  the  hearts  of  human  beings. 


2>arfeness.  19 

We  may  compare  an  ancient  and  fallen  religion  to 
the  ship  of  the  Argonauts,  which  the  Greeks  desir- 
ing to  preserve  to  posterity,  repairing  in  so  many 
different  ways,  that  at  length  there  did  not  remain  a 
fragment  of  that  vessel  which  had  born  to  Colchis 
the  conqueror  of  the  Golden  Fleece. 

Let  us  pass  over  a  lapse  of  years,  and  then  con- 
template the  condition  of  these  nations  in  whom 
religion  had  been  first  born.  We  find  the  Egyptians 
adoring  the  most  common  of  plants,  the  most  con- 
temptible of  beasts,  the  most  hideous  of  reptiles. 
The  solemnity  and  pomp  of  their  absurd  ceremo- 
nies held  them  up  to  the  ridicule  of  the  whole  world. 

Clemens  of  Alexandria  describes  one  of  their 
temples: — (Pcedag.  lib.  iii). — 

"  The  walls  shine  with  gold  and  silver,  and  with 
amber,  and  sparkle  with  the  gems  of  India  and 
Ethiopia:  and  the  recesses  are  concealed  by  splendid 
curtains.  But  if  you  enter  the  penetralia,  and  inquire 
for  the  image  of  God  for  whose  sake  the  fane  was 
built;  one  of  the  Pastophori,  or  some  other  attendant 
on  the  temple  approaches  with  a  solemn  and  mys- 
terious face,  and  putting  aside  the  veil  suffers  you 
to  obtain  a  glimpse  of  the  divinity.  There  you 
behold  a  snake,  a  crocodile,  or  a  cat,  or  some  other 
beast,  a  fitter  inhabitant  of  a  cavern,  or  a  bog  than 
of  a  temple." 


20  Darfeness* 

The  priests  of  Egypt,  always  impostors,  but  once 
so  celebrated,  had  now  degenerated  into  a  race  of 
jugglers. 

Also  the  Chaldceans  lived  upon  the  fame  of  their 
fathers,  and  upon  their  own  base  trickeries. 

The  Brachmans  or  Brahmins,  those  priests  of 
India,  once  so  virtuous  and  so  wise — ah !  they  too 
had  fallen.  Once  they  had  forbidden  the  shedding 
of  so  much  as  an  insects  blood :  one  day  in  the  year 
alone,  at  the  feast  of  Jagam,  they  were  authorized  to 
sacrifice  the  flesh  of  a  beast,  and  from  this  many  had 
refrained  from  attending,  unable  to  conquer  their 
feelings  of  abhorrence. 

But  now  they  had  learnt  from  the  fierce  Scythians 
and  from  the  Phoenicians  who  traded  on  their  coasts 
to  sacrifice  the  wife  upon  her  husbands  pyre — to 
appease  the  gentle  Brahmah  with  the  blood  of  men. 

Now  the  angels  who  had  presided  over  them 
became  savage  demons,  who  scourged  them  on  to 
cruel  penances,  nay  to  life-times  of  suffering  and 
famine. 

In  the  sacred  groves  where  once  the  Brachman- 
Fathers  had  taught  their  precepts  of  love,  men  ema- 
ciated, careworn,  dying,  wandered  sadly,  waiting  for 
death  as  tortured  prisoners  wait  for  their  liberty. 

But  worse  still,  these  wicked  priests  sought  through 
the  land  for  the  most  beautiful  young  women,  and 


SDarlmess.  21 

trained  them  to  dance  in  the  temples,  and  to  entice 
the  devotees  to  their  arms  with  lustful  attitudes  and 
languishing  looks,  and  with  their  voices  which 
mingled  harmoniously  with  the  golden  bells  sus- 
pended on  their  feet.  They  sang  hymns  to  the  Gods 
in  public,  and  in  private  enriched  the  treasuries  of 
the  pagoda  with  their  infamous  earnings.  Thus  a 
pure  and  simple  religion  was  debased  by  the  avarice 
and  lewdness  of  its  priests:  till  the  temples  became 
a  den  of  thieves:  till  prostitution  sat  enthroned  upon 
the  altars  of  the  Gods. 

Greece  and  Rome  buried  in  sloth  and  luxury  did 
not  escape  the  general  contamination.  The  emblem 
of  generation  which  Isis  had  bestowed  upon  the 
Egyptians,  and  which  they  had  held  in  abstract 
reverence,  had  now  obtained  a  prominent  place  in 
the  festivals  of  these  nations  as  did  the  Lingam  in 
those  of  the  Hindoos.  It  was  openly  paraded  in 
processions  in  the  streets:  it  was  worn  by  Roman 
nations  in  bracelets  upon  their  arms. 

The  sacred  festivals  and  mysteries  which  they  had 
received  from  the  Egyptians,  and  for  which  the 
women  had  been  wont  to  prepare  themselves  by 
continence,  and  the  men  by  fasting,  were  now  mere 
vehicles  for  depravities  of  the  lowest  kind.  Men 
were  permitted  to  join  the  women  in  their  worship 
of  Bacchus,  of  Adonis,  of  the  Bona  Dea,  and  even 


22  2>arKness. 

of  Priapus,  and  so  dissolute  did  the  Dionusia  become, 
that  the  civil  powers  were  compelled  to  interfere  with 
those  of  religion,  and  the  Bacchanalia  were  abolished 
by  a  decree  of  the  Roman  senate. 

And  the  Jews,  the  chosen  people  of  God,  had  not 
their  religion  changed?  had  not  God,  weary  with 
their  sins,  yielded  them  to  captivity,  scourged  them 
with  sorrow,  menaced  them  with  curses  ? 

They  worshipped  Baal-peor,  the  Priapus  of  As- 
syria, they  sacrificed  their  children  to  Moloch:  they 
had  dancing-girls  in  the  holy  temple. 

I  will  not  go  deeper  into  particulars  so  degrading 
to  human  nature.  I  will  rather  invite  you  to  follow 
me  to  a  corner  of  the  world  where,  at  least  for  many 
ages  religion  was  preserved  in  its  pristine  purity,  and 
whose  priests,  through  a  barbarous  soldiery,  were 
received  as  martyrs  in  heaven  before  they  had 
learned  to  be  knaves  upon  earth. 

It  was  an  isolated  spot  unknown  to  the  world  in 
the  earlier  ages  of  vice.  It  is  now  a  kingdom  re- 
nowned for  its  power  and  for  its  luxuries  from  hemi- 
sphere to  hemisphere. 

It  was  encircled  by  the  blue  waters  of  the  German 
and  Atlantic  Seas,  and  abounded  in  the  choicest 
gifts  of  nature. 

It  was  called  The  White  Island  from  those  cliffs 
which  still  frown  so  coldly  upon  Gaul,  and  The  Land 


Darfeness.  23 

of  Green  Hills  from  its  verdant  mountains.  Come 
with  me  to  its  shores,  and  I  will  show  you  its 
priests  in  their  white  robes,  and  its  warriors  in 
the  blue  paint  of  war,  and  its  virgins  with  their  long 
and  glossy  yellow  hair. 

But  first  I  will  lead  you  back  into  the  past,  and 
relate  to  you  why  this  land  was  called  Albion,  and 
why  Britain. 


BOOK    THE    SECOND. 


ABORIGINES. 


I. 

ALBION. 

AS  travelers,  who  have  lost  their  way  by  night, 
gaze  ever  towards  the  east  for  the  first  rays 
of  light  and  hope,  so  we  who  grope  in  the  darkness 
of  antiquity  must  direct  our  eyes  to  the  land  of  the 
rising  sun,  whence  learning  and  life  itself  first  sprang. 

Listen  then  to  a  romance  of  the  East. 

Danaus,  King  of  Greece,  had  fifty  sons,  whom  he 
married  to  the  fifty  daughters  of  his  brother  ^gistus, 
King  of  Egypt.  But  soon  these  women  thirsted  for 
dominion,  and  conspired  secretly  to  slay  their  hus- 
bands and  to  rule  in  their  steads.  But  the  youngest 
and  the  most  beautiful  had  a  tender  heart,  which 
crept  from  her  lips  in  words  of  warning  to  her  father 
and  her  spouse.  Then  they  were  all  seized  and  set 
adrift  in  ships  upon  the  sea,  which  after  many  storms 
bore  them  in  safety  to  a  large  and  uninhabited 
island. 

Here  they  staid  and  named  it  Albion,  after  Albina 

their  eldest  sister,  and  here  they  maintained  them- 

27 


28  Hlbion. 

selves  by  the  chase,  killing  the  deer  and  the  boars, 

and  wild  bulls,  and  large  birds  which  they  found  in 

the  forests  with  arrows  and  bolts,  and  bowstrings, 
and  snares  and  pitfalls. 

And  while  filled  with  meat  and  drink,  and  with 
lustful  thoughts,  they  lay  sleeping  on  the  ground 
covered  with  the  skins  of  wild  beasts,  dark  brooding 
spirits  swept  towards  them  from  the  sky,  and  en- 
circled them  with  their  shadowy  arms,  and  intoxicated 
them  with  their  flaming  breath 

By  these  were  born  huge  and  hideous  giants 
which  soon  bore  others,  till  they  filled  the  whole  land 
with  a  strange  and  fierce  crew. 


II. 

BRITAIN. 

MEANWHILE  Troy  had  fallen:  the  wanderings 
of  Eneas  were  past:  and  Ascanius  had  died 
leaving  behind  him  his  son  Silvius. 

The  son  of  Silvius  loved  a  maid,  who  became 
pregnant.  Then  the  wise  men  and  women  of  the 
land  were  sent  for,  and  all  those  who  knew  songs  of 
magic  art.  They  cast  their  lots  and  found  sorrowful 
spells:  that  a  child  would  be  born  through  whom 
both  his  father  and  mother  would  suffer  death:  that 
through  their  death  he  would  be  driven  from  the 
land,  and  after  a  long  time  would  be  crowned  with 
honor. 

His  mother  died  as  she  gave  him  to  the  world, 
and  the  child,  whom  they  named  Brutus,  when  he 
had  become  a  youth,  shot  his  father  through  the 
breast  a-hunting  the  deer. 

His  kindred  banished  him  from  the  land,  and  he 

sailed  sadly  over  the  sea-streams  into  Greece  where 

he   headed  an  insurrection    against  Pandrasus  the 

29 


30  Britain. 

king,  and  with  such  success  that  the  king  offered 
him  all  his  ships,  and  treasures,  and  Imogen  his 
only  daughter  if  he  would  consent  to  seek  another 
kingdom. 

So  Brutus,  with  his  followers,  like  Eneas  of  old, 
sailed  forth  upon  the  waters  in  search  of  a  new  land. 

After  two  days  and  two  nights  the  sea  became 
blue:  the  wild  waves  were  hushed:  they  came  to  a 
desolate  island:  its  inhabitants  had  been  slain  by  the 
pirates:  the  timid  deer  coursed  over  its  wasted 
shores. 

But  they  found  there  a  marble  temple,  and  within 
the  fair  and  beautiful  image  of  Diana. 

Brutus  with  twelve  wise  men,  and  with  Gerion, 
his  priest,  entered  the  temple  while  his  followers 
remained  without.  He  bore  a  vessel  of  red  gold  in 
his  hand:  it  was  filled  with  wine  and  with  the  milk 
of  a  white  hind  which  he  had  killed.  Having  kindled 
a  fire  by  the  altar,  he  walked  around  it  nine  times. 
He  called  to  the  croddess  beloved  of  his  heart:  he 
kissed  the  altar  and  poured  the  wine  and  milk  upon 
the  fire. 

"  Lady  Diana!  loved  Diana!  High  Diana!"  he 
cried.  "  Help  me  in  my  need.  Teach  me  whither 
I  may  go  and  wherein  I  may  dwell.  And  there  I 
will  make  thee  a  lofty  dwelling  and  honor  thee  with 
great  worship. 


Britain.  31 

Then  he  spread  the  hide  of  the  white  hind  upon 
the  altar,  and  kneeling  upon  it  fell  asleep.  In  his 
dreams  he  beheld  Diana  floating  towards  him  with 
sweet  smiles.  She  laid  her  hands  like  a  wreath  of 
flowers  upon  his  head,  saying  : 

Beyond  Gaul  in  the  west  thou  shall  find  a  winsome 
land:  therein  thou  shalt  prosper.  Therein  is  fowl: 
there  is  fish:  there  dwell  fair  deer:  there  is  wood: 
there  is  water:  there  is  much  desert:  grim  giants 
dwell  in  the  land.     It  is  called  Albion. 

For  thirty  days  and  thirty  nights  they  sailed  past 
Africa  and  over  the  lake  of  Silvius,  and  over  the 
lake  of  Philisteus:  by  Ruscikadan  they  took  the  sea, 
and  by  the  mountain  country  of  Azare.  They  fought 
with  the  pirates,  and  gained  from  them  such  treasures 
that  there  was  not  a  man  in  the  fleet  who  did  not 
wear  gold  and  pall.  And  by  the  pillars  of  Hercules 
they  were  encompassed  by  mermen  who  sing  songs 
so  sweet  that  mariners  will  rest  slothfully  on  their 
oars,  and  listen  to  them  for  days  without  wearying  of 
their  songs  to  hear — these  impeded  them  much  with 
their  wicked  crafts,  but  they  escaped  them  safely. 

In  a  peaceful  sea,  and  among  the  playing  fish  they 
came  to  Dartmouth  in  Totnes.  There  the  ships 
bit  the  sands,  and  with  merry  hearts  the  warriors 
went  ashore. 

It  happened  after  many  days  that  Brutus  and  his 


32  JBtitattu 

people  were  celebrating  holy  writs,  with  meat,  with 
drink,  and  with  merry  glee  sounds:  with  silver  and 
with  o-old:    with  horses  and  with  vestments. 

Twenty  strong  giants  descended  the  hills:  trees 
were  their  clubs:  in  the  centre  of  their  foreheads 
was  a  single  eye  vivid  as  the  blue  ice.  They  hurled 
huge  stones  and  slew  five  hundred  of  the  Trojans. 
But  soon  the  fierce  steel  arrows  of  the  Trojans 
whistled  through  the  air,  and  blood  began  to  spurt 
from  their  monstrous  sides.  They  tried  to  fly;  but 
those  darts  followed  them  swift  and  revengeful,  as 
birds  of  prey  winged  with  the  dark  feathers  of  death. 

Nineteen  were  slain  and  Geog-magog,  their  leader 
was  brought  bound  before  Brutus,  who  ordered  a 
wrestling  match  to  be  held  between  the  giant  and 
Corineus,  a  chieftain  of  his  army. 

A  mighty  crowd  gathered  upon  the  downs  by  the 
sea-cliff. 

Corineus  and  the  giant  advanced  towards  each 
other,  they  yoked  their  arms  and  stood  breast  to 
breast.  Their  eyes  gushed  blood,  their  teeth  gnashed 
like  wild  boars,  their  bones  cracked.  Now  their 
faces  were  black  and  swollen,  now  red  and  flaming 
with  rage.  Geog-magog  thrust  Corineus  off  his 
breast  and  drawing  him  back  broke  three  of  his  ribs 
with  his  mighty  hand.  But  Corineus  was  not  over- 
come, he  hugged  the  giant  grimly  to  his  waist,  and 


JBritaim  33 

grasping  him  by  the  girdle  swung  him  over  the  cliff 
upon  the  rocks  below. 

Which  spot  is  called  "  Geog-magog's  leap"  to 
this  day.  And  to  Corineus,  the  conqueror,  was  given 
a  dukedom,  which  was  thence  called  Corinee  and 
thence  Cornwall. 

Brutus  having  conquered  the  giant  off-spring  of 
the  treacherous  sisters,  built  a-New  Troy,  and  erected 
temples  to  the  great  Diana,  and  caused  her  to  be 
worshipped  throughout  the  land. 

Which  was  named  Britain  after  Brutus,  the  first 
man  who  set  foot  upon  its  shores. 


III. 

ANALYSIS. 

FABLES  are  seldom  actual  impostures.  They 
are  usually  truths  disguised  in  gaudy  or  gro- 
tesque garments,  but  so  disguised  that  the  most 
profound  philosophers  are  often  at  a  loss  how  to 
separate  the  tinsei  from  the  gold. 

But  even  when  they  remain  insolvable  enigmas, 
they  are,  at  least,  to  be  preferred  to  the  etymological 
eurekas  and  tedious  conjectures  with  which  anti- 
quarians clog  the  pages  of  history,  and  which  are 
equally  false  and  less  poetical. 

My  fable  of  Albion  is  derived  from  the  ancient 
chronicles  of  Hugh  de  Genesis,  an  historiographer 
now  almost  forgotten,  and  is  gravely  advanced  by 
John  Hardyng,  in  his  uncouth  rhymes,  as  the  source 
of  that  desire  for  sovereignty  which  he  affirms  to  be 
a  peculiarity  of  his  own  countrywomen. 

The  story  of  Bru  or  Brutus  was  first  published  by 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  and  was  generally  supposed 
to  have  been  a  monkish  fabrication,  till   it  was  dis- 


covered  in  the  historical  poems  of  Tyssilia,  a  Welsh 
bard. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  boys  of  Wales  still 
amuse  themselves  by  cutting  out  seven  enclosures 
in  the  sward,  which  they  call  the  City  of  Troy,  and 
dance  round  and  between  them  as  if  in  imitation  of 
the  revolution  of  the  planets. 

In  a  poem  by  Taliesin,  the  Ossian  of  Wales,  called 
The  Appeasing  of  Lhudd,^  passage  occurs,  of  which 
this  is  a  literal  translation  : 

"A  numerous  race,  fierce,  they  are  said  to  have  been, 

Were  thy  original  colonists,  Britain,  first  of  isles, 

Natives  of  a  country  in  Asia,  and  the  city  of  Gafiz 

Said  to  have  been  a  skilful  people,  but  the  district  is  unknown 

Which  was  mother  to  these  children,  warlike  adventurers  on  the  sea; 

Clad  in  their  long  dress,  who  could  equal  them? 

Their  skill  is  celebrated,  they  were  the  dread  of  Europe." 

This  is  strong  evidence  in  favor  of  the  Phoeni- 
cians, at  that  time  the  pirate-scourges  of  the  sea,  but 
in  the  Welsh  triads,  or  traditional  chronicles,  we 
read  that: — 

"  The  first  of  the  three  chieftains  who  established 
the  colony  was  Hu,  the  Mighty,  who  came  with  the 
original  settlers.  They  came  over  tlie  Hazy  Sea  from 
the  sitmmer  country,  which  is  called  Deffrobani,  that 
is  where  Constinoblys  now  slaiids." — Triad  4. 

It  maybe  possible  to  reconcile  these  contradictions 
of  history  in  its  simplest  state,  to  which  I  might  add 
a  hundred  from  later  writers. 


36  Bnalssfs. 

We  learn  from  Josephus  that  the  Scythians  were 
called  Magogcei  by  the  Greeks,  and  it  is  probable 
that  these  (who  certainly  did  migrate  to  Britain  at  a 
remote  period)  were  the  real  aborigines,  and  the  race 
alluded  to  in  the  fourth  Triad.  That  then  the  war- 
like race  of  Taliesin  also  migrated  from  another  re- 
gion of  the  East,  and  that  their  battles  with  the 
Scythians  gave  rise  to  the  fables  of  Brutus  and  Ma- 
gog; for  it  was  a  practice,  common  enough  with 
illiterate  nations,  to  express  heroes  in  their  war-tales 
by  the  images  of  giants. 

This  superstition  is  somewhat  borne  out  by  the 
assertion  of  Tacitus  and  other  classical  writers,  that 
at  the  time  of  Caesar's  invasion,  there  were  three 
distinct  races  in  Britain,  especially  contrasting — the 
red-haired,  large-limbed,  and  blue-eyed  Celts  of  the 
North,  with  the  Silures  of  Devon,  Cornwall,  and  the 
Cassiterides  or  Scilly  Isles,  who  had  swarthy  faces 
and  dark  curly  hair,  like  the  Iberi  of  Spain. 

But  let  us  pass  on  from  such  dateless  periods  of 
guess-work,  to  that  in  which  The  White  Island  first 
obtained  notice  from  those  philosophers,  and  poets, 
and  historians,  whom  now  we  revere  and  almost 
deify. 


IV. 
DESCRIPTION. 

THE  north  of  the  island  was  inhabited  by  wild 
hordes  of  savages,  who  lived  upon  the  bark  of 
trees,  and  upon  the  precarious  produce  of  the  chase; 
went  naked,  and  sheltered  themselves  from  the 
weather  under  the  cover  of  the  woods,  or  in  the 
mountain  caves. 

The  midland  tribes  were  entirely  pastoral.  They 
lived  upon  the  flesh  and  milk  which  their  flocks 
afforded  them,  and  clothed  themselves  in  their  skins. 

While  the  inhabitants  of  the  south,  who  had  been 
polished  by  intercourse  with  strangers,  were  ac- 
quainted with  many  of  the  arts  of  civilization,  and 
were  ruled  by  a  priesthood  which  was  second  to 
none  in  the  world  for  its  learning  and  experience. 

They  manured  their  ground  with  marl,  and  sowed 
corn,  which  they  stored  in  thatched  houses,  and 
from  which  they  took  as  much  as  was  necessary  for 
the  day  and  having  dried  the  ears,  beat  the  grain 
out,  bruised  it,  and  baked  it  into  bread. 

37 


38  Description. 

They  ate  little  of  this  bread  at  their  banquets,  but 
great  quantities  of  flesh,  which  they  either  boiled  in 
water,  or  broiled  upon  the  coals,  or  roasted  upon 
spits.  They  drank  ale  or  metheglin,  a  liquor  made 
of  milk  and  honey,  and  sat  upon  the  skins  of  wolves 
or  dogs. 

They  lived  in  small  houses  built  in  a  circular  form, 
thatched  with  rushes  into  the  shape  of  a  cone;  an 
aperture  being  left  by  which  the  smoke  might 
escape. 

Their  dress  was  of  their  own  manufacture.  A 
square  mantle  covered  a  vest  and  trousers,  or  a 
deeply-plaited  tunic  of  braided  cloth;  the  waist  was 
encircled  by  a  belt,  rings  adorned  the  second  finger 
of  each  hand,  and  a  chain  of  iron  or  brass  was  sus- 
pended from  the  neck.  These  mantles,  at  first  the 
only  covering  of  the  Britons,  were  of  one  color,  with 
long  hair  on  the  outside,  and  were  fastened  upon 
the  breast  by  a  clasp,  with  the  poorer  classes  by  a 
thorn. 

The  heads  were  covered  with  caps  made  of  rushes, 
and  their  feet  with  sandals  of  untanned  skin;  speci- 
mens of  which  are  still  to  be  met  with — of  the  former 
in  Wales,  of  the  latter  in  the  Shetland  Isles. 

The  women  wore  tunics,  wrought  and  interwoven 
with  various  colors,  over  which  was  a  loose  robe  of 
coarser  make,  secured  with  brazen  buckles.     They 


description,  39 

let  their  hair  flow  at  freedom,  and  dyed  it  yellow  like 
the  ladies  of  ancient  Rome;  and  they  wore  chains 
of  massive  gold  about  their  necks,  bracelets  upon 
their  arms,  rings  upon  their  fingers. 

They  were  skilled  in  the  art  of  weaving,  in  which, 
however,  the  Gauls  had  obtained  a  still  greater  pro- 
ficience.  The  most  valuable  of  their  cloths  were 
manufactured  of  fine  wool  of  different  tints,  woven 
chequer-wise,  so  as  to  fall  into  small  squares  of  vari- 
ous colors.  They  also  made  a  kind  of  cloth,  which, 
without  spinning  or  weaving,  was,  when  worked  up 
with  vinegar,  so  hard  and  impenetrable,  that  it  would 
turn  the  edge  of  the  sharpest  sword. 

They  were  equally  famous  for  their  linen,  ana  sail- 
cloths constituted  a  great  part  of  their  trade. 

When  they  had  finished  the  linen  in  the  loom, 
they  had  this  curious  method  of  bleaching  it : 

The  flax  having  been  whitened  before  it  was  sent 
to  the  loom,  the  unspun  yarn  was  placed  in  a  mortar 
where  it  was  pounded  and  beaten  into  water;  it  was 
then  sent  to  the  weaver,  and  when  it  was  received 
from  him  made  into  cloth,  it  was  laid  upon  a  large 
smooth  stone,  and  beaten  with  broad-headed  cudgels, 
the  juice  of  poppies  being  mingled  with  the  water. 

For  scouring  cloths,  they  used  a  soap  invented  by 
themselves,  which  they  made  from  the  fat  of  animals 
and  the  ashes  of  certain  vegetables 


4o  Description, 

Distinct  from  these  southern  tribes,  were  the  in- 
habitants of  the  Cassiterides,  who  wore  long  black 
garments,  and  beards  falling  on  each  side  of  their 
mouths  like  wings,  and  who  are  described  by  Pliny 
as  "carrying  staves  with  three  serpents  curling 
round  like  Furies  in  a  tragedy." 

It  is  probable  that  the  nudity  of  the  northern 
nations  did  not  proceed  from  mere  barbarous  igno- 
rance. We  know  that  savages  are  first  induced  to 
wear  clothing,  not  from  shame,  but  from  vanity;  and 
it  was  this  passion  which  restrained  them  from  wear- 
ing the  skins  of  beasts,  or  the  gaudy  clothes  of  their 
civilized  neighbors. 

For  it  was  their  custom  to  adorn  their  bodies  with 
various  figures  by  a  tedious  and  painful  process.  At 
an  early  age,  the  outlines  of  animals  were  impressed 
with  a  pointed  instrument  into  the  skin;  a  strono- 
infusion  of  woad,  (a  Gallic  herb  from  which  a  blue 
dye  was  extracted)  was  rubbed  into  the  punctures, 
and  the  figures  expanding  with  the  growth  of  the 
body  retained  their  original  appearance.  Like  the 
South-Sea  Islanders  they  esteemed  that  to  be  a 
decoration  which  we  consider  a  disfigurement,  and 
these  tatooings  (which  were  used  by  the  Thracicans 
and  by  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Constantinople,  and 
which  were  forbidden  by  Moses,  Levit.  xix.  28.)  were 


Description.  41 

only  displayed  by  Southern  races  as  a  kind  of  war- 
paint. 

Like  the  Gauls,  who  endeavored  to  make  their 
bright  red  hair  rough  and  bristly  not  for  ornament, 
but  as  a  terror  to  their  enemies,  these  Britons  on  the 
day  of  battle  flung  off  their  clothes,  and  with  swords 
girded  to  their  naked  sides,  and  spear  in  hand, 
marched  with  joyful  cries  against  their  enemies. 

Also  upon  certain  festivals  they,  with  their  wives 
and  children,  daubed  themselves  from  head  to  foot 
with  the  blue  dye  of  the  woad  and  danced  in  circles 
bowing  to  the  altar. 

But  the  Picts,  or  painted  men,  as  the  Romans 
named  them,  colored  themselves  with  the  juice  of 
green  grass. 

Hunting  was  their  favorite  exercise  and  sport, 
and  Britain  which  was  then  filled  with  vast  swamps 
and  forests  afforded  them  a  variety  of  game. 

The  elephant  and  the  rhinoceros,  the  moose-deer, 
the  tiger  and  other  beasts  now  only  known  in  East- 
ern climes,  and  mammoth  creatures  that  have  since 
disappeared  from  the  face  of  the  earth  made  the 
ground  tremble  beneath  their  stately  tread.  The 
brown  bear  preyed  upon  their  cattle,  and  slept  in 
the  hollow  oaks  which  they  revered.  The  hyenas 
yelped  by  night,  and  prowled  round  the  fold  of  the 
shepherd.     The  beaver  fished  in  their  streams,  and 


42  description. 

built  its  earthen  towns  upon  their  banks.  And 
hundreds  of  wolves,  united  by  the  keen  frosts  of 
winter,  gathered  round  the  rude  habitations  of  men 
and  howled  from  fierce  hunger,  rolling  their  horrible 
green  eyes  and  gnashing  their  white  teeth. 

Their  seas  abounded  with  fish,  but  since  they  held 
water  sacred  they  would  not  injure  its  inhabitants 
for  they  believed  them  to  be  spirits. 


I  will  now  consider  the  primeval  state  of  trade  in 
Britain,  now  the  greatest  commercial  country  in  the 
world. 

It  was  periodically  visited  by  the  Phoenicians,  a 
crafty  and  enterprising  nation  whose  commerce  em- 
braced the  whole  of  the  known  world,  from  the 
frozen  borders  of  Scythia  to  the  burning  coasts 
of  Africa  and  Hindostan;  whose  vessels  like  the 
Spanish  galleons  and  our  own  East  Indiamen  of  old 
were  equipped  equally  for  trade  or  war;  who  robbed 
the  weak  with  their  drawn  swords,  and  the   strong 

o 

with  their  cunning  arts;  who  traded  with  Arabia  for 
spices  and  precious  stones;  with  Damascus  for  the 
Mesopotamian  white  wool,  and  for  wine  of  Aleppo, 
a  beverage  so  costly  that  it  was  drunk  by  kings 
alone:  with  Judcea  for  fruits  of  the  soil,  corn,  grape- 
honey,  oil  and  balm;  with  Armenia  for  mules  and 


2>escriptton.  43 

chariot-horses,  flocks  and  herds;  with  the  shores  of 
the  Baltic  for  amber;  with  Spain  for  minerals;  with 
the  Euxine  for  tunny-fish;  with  India  for  the  cinna- 
mon of  Ceylon,  for  cotton  garments  and  for  steel 
which  sold  in  Arabia  for  twice  its  weight  in  gold, 
and  of  which  the  Damascus  blades  so  celebrated  in 
the  middle  ages  were  made. 

It  was  not  long  before  they  discovered  the  lead 
and  tin  mines  of  Cornwall  and  the  Cassiterides, 
which  would  appear  (from  several  flint-headed  tools 
called  celts  lately  discovered  within  them)  to  have 
been  worked  by  the  Britons  themselves. 

And  as  they  were  wont  to  exchange  the  pottery 
of  Athens  for  the  ivory  of  Africa,  and  live  Jews  for 
the  gold  and  jewels  of  the  Greeks,  so  they  bartered 
salt,  earthenware  and  brazen  trinkets  with  the  Britons 
for  tin,  lead,  and  the  skins  of  wild  beasts. 

It  was  the  policy  of  the  Phoenicians  (in  which  they 
were  afterwards  imitated  by  the  Dutch)  to  preserve 
their  commercial  secrets  with  the  greatest  jealousy, 
and  to  resort  to  extremes  in  order  to  protect  their 
interests.  Although  they  had  supplied  tin  and  amber 
for  several  years  to  the  Greeks,  Herodotus,  who  had 
visited  Tyre,  could  only  obtain  very  vague  accounts 
as  to  the  countries  from  which  they  had  been  ob- 
tained, and  on  making  inquiries  respecting  cinnamon 
and  frankincense,  was  explicitly  informed  that  the 


44  Description. 

first  was  procured  by  stratagem  from  the  nests  of 
birds  built  upon  inaccessible  crags,  and  the  latter 
from  a  tree  guarded  by  winged  serpents. 

There  is  also  the  story  of  the  master  of  a  Phoenician 
trader  from  Cadiz  to  the  Cassiterides,  who  finding 
himself  followed  by  a  Roman  ship  ran  his  own  vessel 
ashore  preferring  death  to  discovery.  The  Romans 
were  also  shipwrecked,  and  were  drowned,  but  the 
patriot  escaped  to  tell  his  tale  at  Tyre,  and  to  receive 
from  a  grateful  state  the  value  of  his  cargo  and  an 
additional  reward. 

In  spite  of  these  precautions,  either  by  accident, 
or  by  the  treachery  of  some  renegado  Phoenician,  or 
from  the  colony  of  Phocians  at  Marseilles,  the  Greeks 
discovered  the  secret  about  three  hundred  years  be- 
fore the  Christian  era. 

Thus  monopoly  being  ended,  the  commerce  of  the 
Britons  was  extended  and  improved,  and  after  the 
descent  of  the  Romans  they  exported  not  only  tin  and 
lead,  but  also  gold,  silver,  iron,  corn,  cattle,  slaves 
hunting-dogs,  pearls,  and  those  wicker  baskets  which 
Martial  has  immortalized  in  his  epigrams. 

It  also  appears  that  chalk  was  an  article  of  their 
trade,  by  this  inscription  which  was  found  with  many 
others  near  Zeland,  A.  D.  1647. 


Description.  45 

DEAE  NEHALENNIAE 

OB   MERCES   RECTE    CONSER 

VATAS   SECVND   SILVANVS 

NEGO   Y  TOR   CRETARIVS 

BRITANNIC1ANUS 

V.    S-    L-   M. 

To  the  Goddess  Nehalennia 
For  his  goods  well  preserved 

Secundus  Silvanus 

A  chalk  merchant 
Of  Britain 
Willingly  performed  his  merited  vow. 

Before  describing  the  religion  and  superstitions  of 
our  earliest  ancestors,  which  will  bring  me  to  the 
real  purpose  of  this  book,  I  will  add  a  few  remarks 
upon  their  manners  and  peculiarities. 

Curiosity,  which  is  certainly  the  chief  characteristic 
of  all  barbarous  and  semi-barbarous  nations,  was 
possessed  by  the  Celts  in  so  extraordinary  a  degree 
that  they  would  compel  travelers  to  stop,  even 
against  their  wills,  and  make  them  tell  some  news, 
and  deliver  an  opinion  upon  the  current  events 
of  the  day.  They  would  also  crowd  round  the  mer- 
chants in  towns  with  the  same  kind  of  inquiries. 

But  the  great  failing  of  these  Celts  was  their  hasti- 
ness and  ferocity.  Not  content  with  pitched  battles 
against  their  enemies  abroad,  they  were  always 
ready  to  fight  duels  with  their  friends  at  home.     In 


46  Description. 

fact,  the  end  of  a  British  feast  was  always  the  begin- 
ning of  a  fray;  two  warriors  would  rise  and  fight 
each  other  with  such  sang-froid  that  Athenceus 
wrote  in  astonishment,  Mortem  pro  joco  habent, 
"  They  turn  death  into  a  joke;  "  and  it  was  from 
these  spectacles  that  the  Romans  conceived  and 
executed  the  idea  of  gladiatorial  entertainments. 

They  feared  nothing  these  brave  men.  They 
sang  as  they  marched  to  battle,  and  perhaps  to  death. 
They  shot  arrows  at  the  heavens  when  it  thundered; 
they  laughed  as  they  saw  their  own  hearts'  blood 
gushing  forth. 

And  yet  they  were  plain  and  simple  in  their  man- 
ners; open  and  generous,  docile  and  grateful, 
strangers  to  low  cunning  and  deceit,  so  hospitable 
they  they  hailed  the  arrival  of  each  fresh  guest  with 
joy  and  festivities,  so  warm-hearted  that  they  were 
never  more  pleased  than  when  they  could  bestow  a 
kindness. 

Their  code  of  morals,  like  those  of  civilized  na- 
tions, had  its  little  contradictions;  they  account  it 
disgraceful  to  steal,  but  honorable  to  rob,  and  though 
they  observed  the  strictest  chastity,  they  did  not 
blush  to  live  promiscuously  in  communities  of 
twelve. 

This  extraordinary  custom  induced  Caesar  to  assert 
that  they  enjoyed  each  other's   wives  in  common; 


description.  47 

but  in  this  he  is  borne  out  by  no  other  authorities, 
and,  indeed,  there  are  many  instances  of  this  kind 
among  barbarous  nations,  who  love,  apparently,  to 
hide  their  real  purity  with  a  gross  and  filthy  enamel. 

Richard  of  Circencester  (probably  alluding  to 
Bath  the  aquae  solis  of  the  ancients)  mentions,  how- 
ever, some  salt  and  warm  springs  used  by  the  ancient 
Britons,  from  which  were  formed  hot  baths  suited  to 
all  ages,  with  distinct  places  for  the  two  sexes;  a 
refinement  which  was  unknown  in  Lacedcemon. 

And  Procopius  writes: — 

"  So  highly  rated  is  chastity  among  these  barbar- 
ians, that  if  even  the  bare  mention  of  marriage  occurs 
without  its  completion,  the  maiden  seems  to  lose  her 
fair  fame." 

Having  thus  briefly  sketched  the  condition  and 
employments  of  the  early  Britons — having  proved 
that  our  ancestors  were  brave,  and  that  their  daugh- 
ters were  virtuous,  I  will  now  show  you  those  wise 
and  potent  men  of  whom  these  poor  barbarians  were 
but  the  disciples  and  the  slaves. 


BOOK    THE   THIRD. 


THE    DRUIDS. 


I. 

ORIGIN. 

ALTHOUGH  the  term  Druid  is  local,  their  relig- 
ion was  of  deep  root,  and  a  distant  origin. 
It  was  of  equal  antiquity  with  those  of  the  Persian 
Magi,  the  Chaldees  of  Assyria,  and  the  Brachmans 
of  Hindostan. 

It  resembled  them  so  closely  in  its  sublime  pre- 
cepts, in  its  consoling  promises,  as  to  leave  no  doubt 
that  these  nations,  living  so  widely  apart,  were  all  of 
the  same  stock  and  the  same  religion — that  of  Noah, 
and  the  children  of  men  before  the  flood. 

They  worshipped  but  one  God,  and  erected  to  him 
altars  of  earth,  or  unhewn  stone,  and  prayed  to  him 
in  the  open  air;  and  believed  in  a  heaven,  in  a  hell, 
and  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul. 

It  is  strange  that  these  offsprings  of  the  patriarchs 
should  also  be  corrupted  from  the  same  sources,  and 
should  thus  still  preserve  a  resemblance  to  one  an- 
other in  the  minor  tenets  of  their  polluted  creeds. 

Those  pupils  of  the  Egyptian  priests,  the  Phceni- 

51 


52  ©riatn. 

cians,  or  Canaanites,  who  had  taught  the  Israelites 
to  sacrifice  human  beings,  and  to  pass  their  children 
through  the  fire  to  Moloch,  infused  the  same  blood- 
thirsty precepts  among  the  Druids.  As  the  Indian 
wife  was  burnt  upon  her  husband's  pyre,  so,  on  the 
corpses  of  the  Celtic  lords,  were  consumed  their 
children,  their  slaves,  and  their  horses. 

And,  like  the  other  nations  of  antiquity,  as  I  shall 
presently  prove,  the  Druids  worshipped  the  heavenly 
bodies,  and  also  trees,  and  water,  and  mountains,  and 
the  signs  of  the  serpent,  the  bull  and  the  cross. 

The  doctrine  of  the  transmigration  of  souls  which 
formed  a  leading  theory  on  the  system  of  the  Brach- 
mans,  of  the  Druids,  and  afterwards  of  the  Pytha- 
goreans was  obtained,  through  the  Phoenicians,  from 
Egypt,  the  fatherland  of  heathen  mythology. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  they  also  honored  infe- 
rior deities,  to  whom  they  gave  the  names  of  Hu  and 
Ceridwen,  Hesus  Taranis,  Belenus,  Ogmius,  and  the 
attributes  of  Osiris  and  Isis  (or  Zeus  and  Venus) 
Bacchus,  Mercury,  Apollo,  and  Hercules. 

From  the  sandy  plains  of  Egypt  to  the  icebergs  of 
Scandinavia,  the  whole  world  has  rung  with  the  ex- 
ploits of  Hercules,  that  invincible  god,  who  but  ap- 
peared in  the  world  to  deliver  mankind  from  mon- 
sters and  from  tyrants. 

He  was  really  a  Phoenician  harokel,  or  merchant, 


Origin.  53 

an  enterprising  mariner,  and  the  discoverer  of  the 
tin  mines  of  the  Cassiterides.  He  it  was  who  first 
sailed  through  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  which,  to  this 
day,  are  called  The  Pillars  of  Hercules:  who  built 
the  first  ship:  who  discovered  the  mariner's  compass, 
and  the  loadstone,  or  tapes  Heraclius. 

It  is  gratifying  to  learn  that  his  twelve  labors 
were,  in  reality,  twelve  useful  discoveries,  and  that 
he  had  not  been  deified  for  killing  a  wild  beast  and 
cleaning  out  stables. 

As  the  Chaldeans,  who  were  astronomers,  made 
Hercules  an  astronomer;  and  as  the  Greeks  and 
Romans,  who  were  warriors,  made  him  a  hero  of 
battles;  so  the  Druids,  who  were  orators,  named  him 
Ogmius,  or  the  Power  of  Eloquence,  and  represented 
him  as  an  old  man  followed  by  a  multitude,  whom 
he  led  by  slender  and  almost  invisible  golden  chains 
fastened  from  his  lips  to  their  ears. 

As  far  as  we  can  learn,  however,  the  Druids  paid 
honors,  rather  than  adoration  to  their  deities,  as  the 
Jews  revered  their  arch-angels,  but  reserved  their 
worship  for  Jehovah. 

And,  like  the  God  of  the  Jews,  of  the  Chaldees, 
of  the  Hindoos,  and  of  the  Christians,  this  Deity  of 
the  Druids  had  three  attributes  within  himself,  and 
each  attribute  was  a  god. 

Let  those  learn  who  cavil  at  the  mysterious  doc- 


54  Origin. 

trine  of  the  Trinity,  that  it  was  not  invented  by  the 
Christians,  but  only  by  them  restored  from  times  of 
the  holiest  antiquity  into  which  it  had  descended 
from  heaven  itself. 

Although  the  Druids  performed  idolatrous  cere- 
monies to  the  stars,  to  the  elements,  to  hills,  and  to 
trees,  there  is  a  maxim  still  preserved  among  the 
Welsh  mountaineers,  which  shows  that  in  Britain 
the  Supreme  Being  was  never  so  thoroughly  forgot- 
ten and  degraded  as  he  had  been  in  those  lands  to 
which  he  first  gave  life. 

It  is  one  of  those  sublime  expressions  which  can 
be  but  faintly  rendered  in  a  foreign  language. 

"  Nid  dim  ond  duw:  nid  duw  ond  dim!'  "  God 
cannot  be  matter;  what  is  not  matter  must  be  God." 


V. 

POWER. 

THIS  priesthood  flourished  in  Gaul  and  in  Britain, 
and  in  the  islands  which  encircled  them. 

In  whichever  country  they  may  first  have  struck 
root  we  at  least  know  that  the  British  Druids  were 
the  most  famous,  and  that  it  was  a  custom  in  the 
time  of  Julius  Caesar  for  the  Gallic  students  to  cross 
the  British  channel  to  study  in  the  seminaries  of  the 
sister  island. 

But  by  that  time,  Druidism  had  begun  to  wane  in 
Gaul,  and  to  be  deprived  of  many  of  its  privileges  by 
the  growing  intelligence  of  the  secular  power. 

It  is  generally  acknowledged  that  there  were  no 
Druids  in  Germany,  though  Keysler  has  stoutly 
contested  this  belief  and  has  cited  an  ancient  tradition 
to  the  effect  that  they  had  Druidic  colleges  in  the 
days  of  Hermio,  a  German  Prince. 

The  learned  Selden  relates  that  some  centuries 
ago  in  a  monastery  upon  the  borders  of  Vaitland,  in 
Germany,  were  found  six  old  statues  which  being 

55 


56  power. 

exposed  to  view,  Conradus  Celtes,  who  was  present, 
was  ot  opinion  that  they  were  figures  of  ancient 
Druids.  They  were  seven  feet  in  height,  bare-footed, 
their  heads  covered  with  a  Greek  hood,  a  scrip  by 
their  sides  and  a  beard  descending  from  their  nostrils 
plaited  out  in  two  divisions  to  the  middle;  in  their 
hands  a  book  and  a  Diogenes  staff  five  feet  in  length; 
their  features  stern  and  morose;  their  eyes  lowered 

to  the  ground. 

Such  evidence  is  mere  food  for  conjecture.  Of  the 
ancient  German  priests  we  only  know  that  they  re- 
sembled the  Druids,  and  the  medicine-men  of  the 
American    aborigines  in  being  doctors  as  well  as 

priests. 

The    Druids   possessed   remarkable  powers  and 

immunities.     Like  the  Levites,  the   Hebrews,  and 

the  Egyptian  priests  they  were  exempted  from  taxes 

andfrom  military  service.    They  also  annually  elected 

the  magistrates  of  cities:  they  educated  all  children 

of  whatever  station,  not  permitting  their  parents  to 

receive  them  till  they  were  fourteen  years  of  age. 

Thus  the  Druids  were  regarded  as  the  real  fathers 

of  the  people. 

The  Persian  Magi  were  entrusted  with  the  edu- 
cation of  their  sovereign;  but  in  Britain  the  kings 
were  not  only  brought  up  by  the  Druids,  but  also 
relieved  by  them  of  all  but  the  odium  and  ceremonies 
of  sovereignty. 


power.  57 

These  terrible  priests  formed  the  councils  of  the 
state,  and  declared  peace  or  war  as  they  pleased. 
The  poor  slave  whom  they  seated  on  a  throne,  and 
whom  they  permitted  to  wear  robes  more  gorgeous 
even  than  their  own  was  surrounded,  not  by  his 
noblemen,  but  by  Druids.  He  was  a  prisoner  in  his 
court,  and  his  jailors  were  inexorable,  for  they  were 
priests. 

There  was  a  Chief  Druid  to  advise  him,  a  bard  to 
sing  to  him,  a  sennechai,  or  chronicler,  to  register  his 
action  in  the  Greek  character,  and  a  physician  to 
attend  to  his  health,  and  to  cure  or  kill  him  as  the 
state  required. 

All  the  priests  in  Britain  and  all  the  physicians,  all 
the  judges  and  all  the  learned  men,  all  the  pleaders 
in  courts  of  law  and  all  the  musicians  belonged  to 
the  order  of  the  Druids.  It  can  easily  be  conceived 
then  that  their  power  was  not  only  vast  but  absolute. 

It  may  naturally  excite  surprise  that  a  nation 
should  remain  so  barbarous  and  illiterate  as  the 
Britons  undoubtedly  were,  when  ruled  by  an  order 
of  men  so  polished  and  so  learned. 

But  these  wise  men  of  the  West  were  no  less 
learned  in  human  hearts  than  in  the  triplet  verses, 
and  oral  of  their  fathers.  They  imbibed  with  eager- 
ness the  heathen  rites  of  the  Phoenician  Cabiri,  and 
studied  to  involve  their  doctrines  and  their  ceremo- 


58  power. 

nies  in  the  deepest  mystery.  They  knew  that  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  bring  women  and  the  vulgar 
herd  of  mankind  to  piety  and  virtue  by  the  unadorned 
dictates  of  reason.  They  knew  the  admiration  which 
uneducated  minds  have  always  for  those  things  which 
they  cannot  understand.  They  knew  that  to  retain 
their  own  sway  they  must  preserve  these  barren 
minds  in  their  abject  ignorance  and  superstition. 

In  all  things,  therefore,  they  endeavored  to  draw 
a  line  between  themselves  and  the  mass.  In  their 
habits,  in  their  demeanor,  in  their  very  dress. 

They  wore  long  robes  which  descended  to  the 
heel,  while  that  of  others  came  only  to  the  knee; 
their  hair  was  short  and  their  beards  long,  while  the 
Britons  wore  but  moustaches  on  their  upper  lips,  and 
their  hair  generally  long. 

Instead  of  sandals  they  wore  wooden  shoes  of  a 
pentagonal  shape,  and  carried  in  their  hands  a  white 
wand  called  slatan  drui  eachd,  or  magic  wand,  and 
certain  mystical  ornaments  around  their  necks  and 
upon  their  breasts. 

It  was  seldom  that  anyone  was  found  hardy  enough 
to  rebel  against  their  power.  For  such  was  reserved 
a  terrible  punishment.  It  was  called  Excommunica- 
tion. 

Originating  among  the  Hebrews,  and  descending 
from  the  Druids  into  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  it 


power.  59 

was  one  of  the  most  horrible  that  it  is  possible  to 
conceive.  At  the  dead  of  night,  the  unhappy  cul 
prit  was  seized  and  dragged  before  a  solemn  tribunal, 
while  torches,  painted  black,  gave  a  ghastly  light, 
and  a  low  hymn,  like  a  solemn  murmur,  was  chanted 
as  he  approached. 

Clad  in  a  white  robe,  the  Arch-Druid  would  rise, 
and  before  the  assembly  of  brother-Druids  and  awe- 
stricken  warriors  would  pronounce  a  curse,  frightful 
as  a  death  warrant,  upon  the  trembling  sinner. 
Then  they  would  strip  his  feet,  and  he  must  walk 
with  them  bare  for  the  remainder  of  his  days;  and 
would  clothe  him  in  black  and  mournful  garments, 
which  he  must  never  change. 

Then  the  poor  wretch  would  wander  through  the 
woods,  feeding  on  berries  and  the  roots  of  trees, 
shunned  by  all  as  if  he  had  been  tainted  by  the 
plague,  and  looking  to  death  as  a  salvation  from 
such  cruel  miseries. 

And  when  he  died,  none  dared  to  weep  for  him; 
they  buried  him  only  that  they  might  trample  on  his 
grave.  Even  after  death,  so  sang  the  sacred  bards, 
his  torments  were  not  ended;  he  was  borne  to  those 
regions  of  eternal  darkness,  frost,  and  snow,  which, 
infested  with  lions,  wolves,  and  serpents,  formed  the 
Celtic  hell,  or  Ifurin. 

These  Druids  were  despots;    and  yec  they  must 


60  IPower. 

have  exercised  their  power  wisely  and  temperately 
to  have  retained  so  long  their  dominion  over  a  rude 
and  warlike  race. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  their  revenues  were 
considerable,  though  we  have  no  direct  means  of 
ascertaining  this  as  a  fact.  However,  we  know  that 
it  was  customary  for  a  victorious  army  to  offer  up 
the  chief  of  its  spoils  to  the  gods;  that  those  who 
consulted  the  oracles  did  not  attend  them  empty- 
handed,  and  that  the  sale  of  charms  and  medicinal 
herbs  was  a  constant  trade  among  them. 

Although  all  comprehended  under  the  one  term 
Druid,  there  were,  in  reality,  three  distinct  sects 
comprised  within  the  order. 

First,  the  Druids  or  Derwydd,  properly  so  called. 
These  were  the  sublime  and  intellectual  philosophers 
who  directed  the  machineries  of  the  state  and  the 
priesthood,  and  presided  over  the  dark  mysteries  of 
the  consecrated  groves. 

Their  name  was  derived  from  derw  (pronounced 
derrod)  Celtic  for  oak,  and  ydd,  a  common  termina- 
tion of  nouns  in  that  language,  equivalent  to  the  or 
or  er  in  governor,  reader,  &c,  in  ours. 

The    Bards   or   Bardd   from   Bar,   a  branch,   or 

the  top. 

It  was  their  province  to  sing  the  praises  of 
horses  in  the  warrior's  feasts,  to  chant  the  sacred 


power.  61 

hymns  like  the  musician's  among  the  Levites,  and 
to  register  genealogies  and  historical  events. 

The  Ovades  or  Ovydd,  (derived  from  ov,  raw, 
pure,  and  ydd,  above  explained)  were  the  noviciates, 
who,  under  the  supervision  of  the  Druids,  studied 
the  properties  of  nature,  and  offered  up  the  sacri- 
fices upon  the  altar. 

Thus  it  appears  that  Derwydd,  Bardd,  and  Ovydd, 
were  emblematical  names  of  the  three  orders  of 
Druidism. 

The  Derwydd  was  the  trunk  and  support  of  the 
whole;  the  Bardd  the  ramification  from  that  trunk 
arranged  in  beautiful  foliage;  and  the  Ovydd  was 
the  young  shoot,  which,  growing  up,  ensured  a  pros- 
pect of  permanency  to  the  sacred  grove. 

The  whole  body  was  ruled  by  an  Arch-Druid 
elected  by  lot  from  those  senior  brethren  who  were 
the  most  learned  and  the  best  born. 

At  Llamdan  in  Anglesea,  there  are  still  vestiges 
of  Tver  Dryiv  the  Arch-Druid's  mansion,  Boa- 
drudau  the  abode  of  the  inferior  "ones,  Bod-owyr 
the  abode  of  the  ovades,  and  Trer-Beirdd  the  ham- 
let of  the  bards. 

Let  us  now  consider  these  orders  under  their 
respective  denominations — Derwydd,  Bardd,  Ovyd; 
and  under  their  separate  vocations,  as  philosophers 
musicians,  and  priests. 


VI. 

THE   DERWYDD,  OR   PHILOSOPHERS. 

DRUIDISM  was  a  religion  of  philosophy;  its 
high  priests  were  men  of  learning  and  science. 

Under  the  head  of  the  Ovydd,  I  shall  describe  their 
initiatory  and  sacrificial  rites,  and  shall  now  merely 
consider  their  acquirements,  as  instructors,  as  math- 
ematicians, as  law -givers  and  as  physicians. 

Ammianus  Marcellinus  informs  us  that  the  Druids 
dwelt  together  in  fraternities,  and  indeed  it  is  scarce- 
ly possible  that  they  could  have  lectured  in  almost 
every  kind  of  philosophy  and  preserved  their  arcana 
from  the  vulgar,  unless  they  had  been  accustomed 
to  live  in  some  kind  of  convent  or  college. 

They  were  too  wise,  however,  to  immure  them- 
selves wholly  in  one  corner  of  the  land,  where  they 
would  have  exercised  no  more  influence  upon  the 
nation  than  the  Heads  and  Fellows  of  our  present 
universities.  While  some  lived  the  lives  of  hermits 
in  caves  and  in  hollow  oaks  within  the  dark  recesses 
of  the  holy  forests;  while  others  lived  peaceably  in 

62 


XTbe  iPbilosopbers*  63 

their  college -home,  teaching  the  bardic  verses  to 
children,  to  the  young  nobles,  and  to  the  students 
who  came  to  them  from  a  strange  country  across  the 
sea,  there  were  others  who  led  an  active  and  turbulent 
existence  at  court  in  the  councils  of  the  state  and  in 
the  halls  of  nobles. 

In  Gaul,  the  chief  seminaries  of  the  Druids  was 
in  the  country  of  the  Carnutes  between  Chartres 
and  Dreux,  to  which  at  one  time  scholars  resorted 
in  such  numbers  that  they  were  obliged  to  build 
other  academies  in  various  parts  of  the  land,  vest-' 
iges  of  which  exist  to  this  day,  and  of  which  the 
ancient  College  of  Guienne  is  said  to  be  one. 

When  their  power  began  to  totter  in  their  own 
country,  the  young  Druids  resorted  to  Mona,  now 
Anglesea,  in  which  was  the  great  British  university, 
and  in  which  there  is  a  spot  called  Myrfyrion,  the 
seat  of  studies. 

The  Druidic  precepts  were  all  in  verses,  which 
amounted  to  20,000  in  number,  and  which  it  was 
forbidden  to  write.  Consequently  a  long  course  of 
preparatory  study  was  required,  and  some  spent  so 
much  as  twenty  years  in  a  state  of  probation. 

These  verses  were  in  rhyme,  which  the  Druids 
invented  to  assist  the  memory,  and  in  a  triplet  form 
from  the  veneration  which  was  paid  to  the  number 
three  by  all  the  nations  of  antiquity. 


64  Zbc  pbtlosopbers. 

In  this  the  Jews  resembled  the  Druids,  for  although 
they  had  received  the  written  law  of  Moses,  there 
was  a  certain  code  of  precept  among  them  which 
was  taught  by  mouth  alone,  and  in  which  those  who 
were  the  most  learned  were  elevated  to  the  Rabbi. 

The  mode  of  teaching  by  memory  was  also  prac- 
tised by  the  Egyptians  and  by  Lycurgus,  who  es- 
teemed it  better  to  imprint  his  laws  on  the  minds  of 
the  Spartan  citizens  than  to  engrave  them  upon  tab- 
lets. So,  too,  were  Numa's  sacred  writing  buried 
with  him  by  his  orders,  in  compliance  perhaps  with 
the  opinions  of  his  friend  Pythagoras  who,  as  well  as 
Socrates,  left  nothing  behind  him  committed  to 
writing. 

It  was  Socrates,  in  fact,  who  compared  written 
doctrines  to  pictures  of  animals  which  resemble  life, 
but  which  when  you  question  them  can  give  you  no 
reply. 

But  we  who  love  the  past  have  to  lament  this 
system.  When  Cambyses  destroyed  the  temples  of 
Egypt,  when  the  disciples  of  Pythagoras  died  in  the 
Meta-pontine  tumults,  all  their  mysteries  and  all 
their  learning  died  with  them. 

So  also  the  secrets  of  the  Magi,  the  Orpheans  and 
the  Cabiri  perished  with  their  institutions,  and  it  is 
owing  to  this  law  of  the  Druids  that  we  have  only 
the  meagre  evidence  of  ancient  authors  and  the 


Ube  jpbflosopbers.  65 

obscure  emblems  of  the  Welsh  Bards,  and  the  faint 
vestiges  of  their  mighty  monuments  to  teach  us 
concerning  the  powers  and  direction  of  their  phi- 
losophy. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  they  were  profoundly 
learned.  For  ordinary  purposes  of  writing,  and  in 
the  keeping  of  their  accounts  on  the  Alexandrian 
method,  they  used  the  ancient  Greek  character  of 
which  Cadmus,  a  Phoenician,  and  Timagines,  a 
Druid,  were  said  to  have  been  the  inventors  and  to 
have  imported  into  Greece. 

This  is  a  fac-simile  of  their  alphabet  as  preserved 
in  the  Thesaurus  Muratori.     Vol.  IV.  2093. 

Both  in  the  universities  of  the  Hebrews,  which 
existed  from  the  earliest  times,  and  in  those  of  the 
Brachmans  it  was  not  permitted  to  study  philosophy 
and  the  sciences,  except  so  far  as  they  might  assist 
the  student  in  the  perusal  and  comprehension  of  the 
sacred  writings.  But  a  more  liberal  system  existed 
among  the  Druids,  who  were  skilled  in  all  the  arts 
and  in  foreign  languages. 

For  instance,  there  was  Abaris,  a  Druid  and  a 
native  of  the  Shetland  Isles  who  traveled  into 
Greece,  where,  he  formed  a  friendship  with   Pytha- 


66  XTbe  pbilosopbers. 

goras  and  where  his  learning,  his  politeness,  his 
shrewdness,  and  expedition  in  business,  and  above 
all,  the  ease  and  elegance  with  which  he  spoke  the 
Athenian  tongue,  and  which  (so  said  the  orator 
Himerius)  would  have  made  one  believe  that  he 
had  been  brought  up  in  the  academy  or  the  Lycceum, 
created  for  him  as  great  a  sensation  as  that  which 
was  afterwards  made  by  the  admirable  Crichton 
among  the  learned  doctors  of  Paris. 

It  can  easily  be  proved  that  the  science  of  astron- 
omy was  not  unknown  to  the  Druids.  One  of  their 
temples  in  the  island  of  Lewis  in  the  Hebrides,  bears 
evident  signs  of  their  skill  in  the  science.  Every 
stone  in  the  temple  is  placed  astronomically.  The 
circle  consists  of  twelve  equistant  obelisks  denoting 
the  twelve  signs  of  the  zodiac.  The  four  cardinal 
points  of  the  compass  are  marked  by  lines  of  obelisks 
running  out  from  the  circle,  and  at  each  point  sub- 
divided into  four  more.  The  range  of  obelisks  from 
north,  and  exactly  facing  the  south  is  double,  being 
two  parallel  rows  each  consisting  of  nineteen  stones. 
A  large  stone  in  the  centre  of  the  circle,  thirteen 
feet  high,  and  of  the  perfect  shape  of  a  ship's  rudder 
would  seem  as  a  symbol  of  their  knowledge  of  as- 
tronomy being  made  subservient  to  navigation,  and 
the  Celtic  word  for  star, ruth-iul,  "a-guide-to-direct- 
the-course,"  proves  such  to  have  been  the  case. 


Ube  pbilosopbers.  67 

This  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  winged  temple 
which  Erastosthenes  says  that  Apollo  had  among 
the  Hyperboreans — a  name  which  the  Greeks  ap- 
plied to  all  nations  dwelling  north  of  the  Pillars  of 
Hercules. 

But  what  is  still  more  extraordinary,  Hecateus 
makes  mention  that  the  inhabitants  of  a  certain 
Hyperborian  island,  little  less  than  Sicily,  and  over 
against  Celtiberia — a  description  answering  exactly 
to  that  of  Britain — could  bring  the  moon  so  near 
them  as  to  show  the  mountains  and  rocks,  and  other 
appearances  upon  its  surface. 

According  to  Strabo  and  Bochart,  glass  was  a  dis- 
covery of  the  Phoenicians  and  a  staple  commodity  of 
their  trade,  but  we  have  some  ground  for  believing 
that  our  philosophers  bestowed  rather  than  borrowed 
this  invention. 

Pieces  of  glass  and  crystal  have  been  found  in  the 
cairns,  as  if  in  honor  to  those  who  invented  it;  the 
process  of  vitrifying  the  very  walls  of  their  houses, 
which  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  Highlands  prove  that 
they  possessed  the  art  in  the  gross;  and  the  Gaelic 
name  for  glass  is  not  of  foreign  but  of  Celtic  ex- 
traction, being  glasine  and  derived  from  glas-theine, 
glued  or  brightened  by  fire. 

We  have  many  wonderful  proofs  of  the  skill  in 
mechanics.      The   clacha-brath,    or   rocking-stones, 


68  Zbc  ipbilosopbers. 

were  spherical  stones  of  an  enormous  size,  and  were 
raised  upon  other  flat  stones  into  which  they  inserted 
a  small  prominence  fitting  the  cavity  so  exactly,  and 
so  concealed  by  loose  stones  lying  around  it,  that 
nobody  could  discern  the  artifice.  Thus  these  globes 
were  balanced  so  that  the  slightest  touch  would 
make  them  vibrate,  while  anything  of  greater  weight 
pressing  against  the  side  of  the  cavity  rendered  them 
immovable. 

In  Iona,  the  last  asylum  of  the  Caledonian  Druids, 
many  of  these  clacha-brath  (one  of  which  is  men- 
tioned in  Ptolemy  Hephestion's  History,  Lib.  iii. 
cap  3.)  were  to  be  found  at  the  beginning  of  this 
century,  and  although  the  superstitious  natives  de- 
faced them  and  turned  them  over  into  the  sea,  they 
considered  it  necessary  to  have  something  of  the 
kind  in  their  stead,  and  have  substituted  for  them 
rough  stone  balls  which  they  call  by  the  same  name. 

In  Stonehenge,  too,  we  find  an  example  of  that 
oriental  mechanism  which  is  displayed  so  stupend- 
ously in  the  pyramids  of  Egypt.  Here  stones  of 
thirty  or  forty  tons  that  must  have  been  a  draught 
for  a  herd  of  oxen,  have  been  carried  the  distance 
of  sixteen  computed  miles  and  raised  to  a  vast  height, 
and  placed  in  their  beds  with  such  ease  that  their 
very  mortises  were  made  to  tally. 

The  temples  of  Abury  in  Wiltshire,  and  of  Carnac 


Gbe  pbUosopbers.  69 

in    Brittany,  though   less    perfect,  are   even    more 
prodigious  monuments  of  art. 

It  is  scarcely  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  Druids 
should  be  acquainted  with  the  properties  of  gun- 
powder, since  we  know  that  it  was  used  in  the 
mysteries  of  Isis,  in  the  temple  of  Delphi,  and  by  the 
old  Chinese  philosophers. 

Lucan  in  his  description  of  agrovenear  Marseilles, 
writes: — "  There  is  a  report  that  the  grove  is  often 
shaken  and  strangely  moved,  and  that  dreadful 
sounds  are  heard  from  its  caverns;  and  that  it  is 
sometimes  in  a  blaze  without  being  consumed." 

In  Ossian's  poem  of  Dargo  the  son  of  the  Druid  of 
Bel,  similar  phenomenon  are  mentioned,  and  while 
the  Celtic  word  lightning  is  De'lanach,  "  the  flash  or 
flame  of  God,"  they  had  another  word  which  ex- 
presses a  flash  that  is  quick  and  sudden  as  lightning 
— Druilanach,  "the  flame  of  the  Druids." 

It  would  have  been  fortunate  for  mankind  had  the 
monks  of  the  middle  ages  displayed  the  wisdom  of 
these  ancient  priests  in  concealing  from  fools  and 
madmen  so  dangerous  an  art. 

All  such  knowledge  was  carefully  retained  within 
the  holy  circle  of  their  dark  caves  and  forests  and 
which  the  initiated  were  bound  by  a  solemn  oath 
never  to  reveal. 


70  Ube  pbilosopbers. 

I  will  now  consider  the  Druids  of  active  life — the 
preachers,  the  law-givers,  and  the  physicians. 

On  the  seventh  day,  like  the  first  patriarchs,  they 
preached  to  the  warriors  and  their  wives  from  small 
round  eminences,  several  of  which  yet  remain  in 
different  parts  of  Britain. 

Their  doctrines  were  delivered  with  a  surpassing 
eloquence  and  in  triplet  verses,  many  specimens 
which  are  to  be  found  in  the  Welsh  poetry  but  of 
which  these  two  only  have  been  preserved  by  the 
classical  authors. 

The  first  in  Pomponius  Mela. 

"  Ut  forent  ad  bella  meliores, 
yEternas  esse  animas, 
Vitamque  alteram  ad  manes." 

"To  act  bravely  in  war, 
That  souls  are  immortal, 
And  there  is  another  life  after  death." 

The  second  in  Diogenes  Laertius. 

pegeiv  Qeovi 

7]ai  firidev  tjotjov  6<;av 

7jai  avd^ecav  acr\uv 

"  To  worship  the  Gods, 
And  to  do  no  evil, 
And  to  exercise  fortitude." 

Once  every  year  a  public  assembly  of  the  nation 
was  held  in  Mona  at  the  residence  of  the  Arch- 
Druid,  and  there  silence  was  no  less  rig-idly  imposed 


Gbe  pbtlosopbers.  71 

than  in  the  councils  of  the  Rabbi  and  the  Brachmans. 
If  any  one  interrupted  the  orator,  a  large  piece  of 
his  robe  was  cut  off — if  after  that  he  offended,  he 
was  punished  with  death.  To  enforce  punctuality, 
like  the  Cigonii  of  Pliny,  they  had  the  cruel  custom 
of  cutting  to  pieces  the  one  who  came  last.  Their 
laws,  like  their  religious  precepts,  were  at  first 
esteemed  too  sacred  to  be  committed  to  writing — the 
first  written  laws  being  those  of  Dyrnwal  Moelmud, 
King  of  Britain,  about  440  b.  c.  and  called  the  Moel- 
mutian  laws;  for  these  were  substituted  the  Mercian 
code  or  the  laws  of  Martia,  Queen  of  England,  which 
was  afterwards  adopted  by  King  Alfred  and  trans- 
lated by  him  into  Saxon. 

The  Manksmen  also  ascribe  to  the  Druids  those 
excellent  laws  by  which  the  Isle  of  Man  has  always 
been  governed. 

The  magistrates  of  Britain  were  but  tools  of  the 
Druids,  appointed  by  them  and  educated  by  them 
also;  for  it  was  a  law  in  Britain  that  no  one  might 
hold  office  who  had  not  been  educated  by  the 
Druids. 

The  Druids  held  annual  assizes  in  different  parts 
of  Britain  (for  instance  at  the  monument  called  Long 
Meg  and  her  Daughters  in  Cumberland  and  at  the 
Valley  of  Stones  in  Cornwall)  as  Samuel  visited 
Bethel  and  Gilgal  once  a  year  to  dispense  justice. 


72  TTbe  pbilosopbers. 

There  they  heard  appeals  from  the  minor  courts, 
and  investigated  the  more  intricate  cases,  which 
sometimes  they  were  obliged  to  settle  by  ordeal. 
The  rocking-stones  which  I  have  just  described,  and 
the  walking  barefoot  through  a  fire  which  they 
lighted  on  the  summit  of  some  holy  hill  and  called 
Samtiin,  or  the  fire  of  peace,  were  their  two  chief 
methods  of  testing  the  innocence  of  the  criminal, 
and  in  which  they  were  imitated  by  the  less  ingeni- 
ous and  perhaps  less  conscientious  judges  of  later 
days. 

For  previous  to  the  ordeal  which  they  named 
GabhaBheil,  or  "  the  trial  of  Beil,"  the  Druids  used 
every  endeavor  to  discover  the  real  merits  of  the 
case,  in  order  that  they  might  decide  upon  the  ver- 
dict of  Heaven — that  is  to  say,  which  side  of  the 
stone  they  should  press,  or  whether  they  should 
anoint  his  feet  with  that  oil  which  the  Hindoo  priests 
use  in  their  religious  festivals,  and  which  enables  the 
barefoot  to  pass  over  the  burning  wood  unscathed. 

We  may  smile  at  another  profanity  of  the  Druids 
who  constituted  themselves  judges  not  only  of  the 
body  but  of  the  soul. 

But  as  Mohammed  inspired  his  soldiers  with  sub- 
lime courage  by  promising  Paradise  to  those  who 
found  a  death-bed  upon  the  corpses  of  their  foes, 
so  the  very  superstitions,  the  very  frauds  of  these 


TLbc  Ipbilosopbers*  73 

noble  Druids  tended  to  elevate  the  hearts  of  men 
towards  their  God,  and  to  make  them  lead  virtuous 
lives  that  they  might  merit  the  sweet  fields  of 
Flainnis,  the  heaven  of  their  tribe. 

Never  before  since  the  world,  has  such  vast  power 
as  the  Druids  possessed  been  wielded  with  such 
purity,  such  temperance,  such  discretion. 

When  a  man  died  a  platter  of  earth  and  salt  was 
placed  upon  his  breast,  as  is  still  the  custom  in 
Wales  and  in  the  North  of  Britain. 

The  earth  an  emblem  of  incorruptibility  of  the 
body — the  salt  an  emblem  of  the  incorruptibility  of 
the  soul. 

A  kind  of  court  was  then  assembled  round  the 
corpse,  and  by  the  evidence  of  those  with  whom  he 
had  been  best  acquainted,  it  was  decided  with  what 
funeral  rites  he  should  be  honored. 

If  he  had  distinguished  himself  as  a  warrior,  or  as 
man  of  science,  it  was  recorded  in  the  death-song; 
a  cairn  or  pile  of  sacred  stones  was  raised  over  him, 
and  his  arms  and  tools  or  other  symbols  of  his  pro- 
fession were  buried  with  him. 

If  his  life  had  been  honorable,  and  if  he  had 
obeyed  the  three  grand  articles  of  religion,  the  bard 
sang  his  requiem  on  the  harp,  whose  beautiful  music 
alone  was  a  pass-port  to  heaven. 

It  is  a  charming  idea,  is  it  not?  The  soul  lingering 


74  XTbe  pbilosopbers. 

for  the  first  strain  which  migdit  release  it  from  the 
cold  corpse,  and  mingle  with  its  silent  ascent  to 
God. 

Read  how  the  heroes  of  Ossian  longed  for  this 
funereal  hymn  without  which  their  souls,  pale  and 
sad  as  those  which  haunted  the  banks  of  the  Styx, 
were  doomed  to  wander  through  the  mists  of  some 
dreary  fen. 

When  this  hymn  had  been  sung,  the  friends  and 
relatives  of  the  deceased  made  great  rejoicings,  and 
this  it  was  that  originated  those  sombre  merry- 
makings so  peculiar  to  the  Scotch  and  Irish  funerals. 

In  the  philosophy  of  medicine,  the  Derwydd  were 
no  less  skilled  than  in  sciences  and  letters.  They 
knew  that  by  means  of  this  divine  art  they  would 
possess  the  hearts  as  well  as  the  minds  of  men,  and 
obtain  not  only  the  awe  of  the  ignorant  but  also  the 
love  of  those  whose  lives  they  had  preserved. 

Their  sovereign  remedy  was  the  missoldine  or 
mistletoe  of  the  oak  which,  in  Wales,  still  bears  its 
ancient  name  of  Oll-iach,  or  all-heal,  with  those  of 
Pren-awr,  the  celestial  tree,  and  Uchelwydd,  the  lofty 
shrub. 

When  the  winter  has  come  and  the  giant  of  the 
forest  is  deserted  by  its  leaves  and  extends  its  with- 
ered arms  to  the  sky,  a  divine  hand  sheds  upon  it 


Ube  pbilosopbers.  75 

from  heaven  a  mysterious  seed,  and  a  delicate  green 
plant  sprouts  from  the  bark,  and  thus  is  born  while 
all  around  is  dying  and  decayed. 

We  need  not  wonder  that  the  mistletoe  should  be 
revered  as  a  heaven -born  plant,  and  as  a  type  of 
God's  promise  and  consolation  to  those  who  were 
fainting  on  death's  threshold  in  the  winter  of  old 
age. 

When  the  new  year  approached,  the  Druids  beset 
themselves  to  discover  this  plant  upon  an  oak,  on 
which  tree  it  grows  less  frequently  than  upon  the 
ash-crab  or  apple  tree.  Having  succeeded,  and  as 
soon  as  the  moon  was  six  days  old,  they  marched  by 
night  with  great  solemnity  towards  the  spot,  inviting 
all  to  join  their  procession  with  these  words  :  The 
New  Year  is  at  hand  :  let  us  gather  the  mistletoe. 

First  marched  the  Ovades  in  their  green  sacrifi- 
cial robes  leading  two  milk-white  bullocks.  Next 
came  the  bards  singing  the  praises  of  the  Mighty 
Essence,  in  raiment  blue  as  the  heavens  to  which 
their  hymn  ascended.  Then  a  herald  clothed  in 
white  with  two  wings  drooping  down  on  each  side 
of  his  head,  and  a  branch  of  vervain  in  his  hand 
encircled  by  two  serpents.  He  was  followed  by- 
three  Derwydd — one  of  whom  carried  the  sacrificial 
bread — another  a  vase  of  water — and  the  third  a 
white  wand.     Lastly,  the  Arch -Druid,  distinguished 


76  XLbc  lPbtlosopbers. 

by  the  tuft  or  tassel  to  his  cap,  by  the  bands  hang- 
ing from  his  throat,  by  the  sceptre  in  his  hand  and  by 
the  golden  crescent  on  his  breast,  surrounded  by  the 
whole  body  of  the  Derwydd  and  humbly  followed 
by  the  noblest  warriors  of  the  land. 

An  altar  of  rough  stones  was  erected  under  the 
oak,  and  the  Arch-Druid,  having  sacramentally  dis- 
tributed the  bread  and  wine,  would  climb  the  tree, 
cut  the  mistletoe  with  a  golden  knife,  wrap  it  in  a 
pure  white  cloth,  slay  and  sacrifice  the  bullocks,  and 
pray  to  God  to  remove  his  curse  from  barren  women, 
and  to  permit  their  medicines  to  serve  as  antidotes 
for  poisons  and  charms  from  all  misfortunes. 

They  used  the  mistletoe  as  an  ingredient  in  almost 
all  their  medicines,  and  a  powder  was  made  from 
the  berries  for  cases  of  sterility. 

It  is  a  strong  purgative  well  suited  to  the  lusty 
constitutions  of  the  ancient  Britons,  but,  like  bleed- 
ing, too  powerful  a  remedy  for  modern  ailments. 

With  all  the  herbs  which  they  used  for  medicine, 
there  were  certain  mummeries  to  be  observed  while 
they  were  gathered,  which  however  were  not  with- 
out their  object — first  in  enhancing  the  faith  of  the 
vulgar  by  exciting  their  superstitions — and  also  in 
case  of  failure  that  the  patient  might  be  reproached 
for  blundering  instead  of  a  physician. 

The  vervain  was  to  be  gathered  at  the  rise  of  the 


TTbe  ipbilosopbers.  77 

dog-star,  neither  sun  nor  moon  shining  at  the  time; 
it  was  to  be  dug  up  with  an  iron  instrument  and  to 
be  waved  aloft  in  the  air,  the  left  hand  only  being 
used. 

The  leaves,  stalks  and  flowers  were  dried  sepa- 
rately in  the  shade  and  were  used  for  the  bites  of 
serpents,  infused  in  wine. 

The  samulos  which  grew  in  damp  places  was  to 
be  gathered  by  a  person  fasting — without  looking 
behind  him — and  with  his  left  hand.  It  was  laid 
into  troughs  and  cisterns  where  cattle  drank,  and 
when  bruised  was  a  cure  for  various  distempers. 

The  selago,  a  kind  of  hedge  hyssop,  was  a  charm 
as  well  as  a  medicine.  He  who  gathered  it  was  to 
be  clothed  in  white — to  bathe  his  feet  in  running 
water — to  offer  a  sacrifice  of  bread  and  wine — and 
then  with  his  right  hand  covered  by  the  skirt  of  his 
robe,  and  with  a  brazen  hook  to  dig  it  up  by  the 
roots  and  wrap  it  in  a  white  cloth. 

Prominent  among  the  juggleries  of  the  Druids, 
stands  the  serpent's  egg — the  ovus  anguinum  of 
Pliny — the  glein  neidr  of  the  ancient  Britons — the 
adderstone  of  modern  folk-lore. 

It  was  supposed  to  have  been  formed  by  a  multi- 
tude of  serpents  close  entwined  together,  and  by  the 
frothy  saliva  that  proceeded  from  their  throats. 
When  it  was  made,  it  was   raised  up  in  the  air  by 


78  TLbc  flMMlosopbers. 

their  combined  hissing,  and  to  render  it  efficacious 
it  was  to  be  caught  in  a  clean  white  cloth  before  it 
could  fall  to  the  ground — for  in  Druidism  that  which 
touched  the  ground  was  polluted.  He  who  per- 
formed this  ingenious  task  was  obliged  to  mount  a 
swift  horse,  and  to  ride  away  at  full  speed  pursued 
by  the  serpents  from  whom  he  was  not  safe  till  he 
had  crossed  a  river. 

The  Druids  tested  its  virtue  by  encasing  it  in  gold, 
and  throwing  it  into  a  river.  If  it  swam  against  the 
stream  it  would  render  it  possessor  superior  to  his 
adversaries  in  all  disputes,  and  obtain  for  him  the 
friendship  of  great  men. 

The  implicit  belief  placed  in  this  fable  is  curiously 
exemplified  by  the  fact  of  a  Roman  Knight  of  the 
Vocontii,  while  pleading  his  own  cause  in  a  law  suit 
was  discovered  with  one  of  these  charms  in  his 
breast  and  was  put  to  death  upon  the  spot. 

Their  reverence  for  the  serpent's  egg  has  its  ori- 
gin in  their  mythology.  Like  the  Phoenicians  and 
Egyptians,  they  represented  the  creation  by  the 
figure  of  an  egg  coming  out  of  a  serpent's  mouth, 
and  it  was  doubtless  the  excessive  credulity  of  the 
barbarians  which  tempted  them  to  invent  the  above 
fable  that  they  might  obtain  high  prices  for  these 
amulets,  many  of  which  have  been  discovered  in 
Druidic  barrows,  and  are  still  to  be  met  with  in  the 


Ube  pbflosopbers.  79 

Highlands,  where  a  belief  in  their  power  has  not  yet 
subsided;  for  it  is  no  uncommon  thing  when  a  dis- 
temper rages  among  men  or  beasts,  for  the  Glass- 
physician  to  be  sent  for  from  as  great  a  distance  as 
fifty  miles. 

These  eggs  are  made  of  some  kind  of  glass  or 
earth  glazed  over,  and  are  sometimes  blue,  green, 
or  white,  and  sometimes  variegated  with  all  these 
colors  intermixed. 

For  mental  disorders  and  some  physical  com- 
plaints they  used  to  prescribe  pilgrimages  to  certain 
wells,  always  situated  at  a  distance  from  the  patient, 
and  the  waters  of  which  were  to  be  drunk  and  bathed 
in.  With  these  ablutions,  sacred  as  those  of  the 
Musselmen,  were  mingled  religious  ceremonies  with 
a  view  to  remind  them  of  the  presence  of  that  God 
who  alone  could  relieve  them  from  their  infirmities. 
After  reaching  the  wells,  they  bathed  thrice — that 
mysterious  number — and  walked  three  times  round 
the  well,  deis'iul,  in  the  same  direction  as  the  course 
of  the  sun,  also  turning  and  bowing  from  East  to 
West. 

These  journeys  were  generally  performed  before 
harvest,  at  which  time  the  modern  Arabs  go  through 
a  series  of  severe  purgings,  and  when  English  labor- 
ers, twenty  years  ago,  used  systematically  to  go  to 
the  market  town  to  be  bled. 


so  Ube  pbflosopbers. 

The  season  of  the  year — -the  exercise — the  mineral 
in  the  water — above  all  the  strong  faith  of  the  patients 
effected  so  many  real  cures  that  in  time  it  became  a 
custom  (still  observed  in  Scotland  with  the  well  of 
Strathfillan  and  in  many  parts  of  Ireland)  for  all  who 
were  afflicted  with  any  disorder  to  perform  an  annual 
pilgrimage  to  these  holy  wells. 

Caithbaid,  an  Irish  historian,  speaks  of  the  Druid 
Trosdan  who  discovered  an  antidote  for  poisoned 
arrows,  and  there  are  many  instances  on  record  of 
the  medicinal  triumphs  of  the  Druids. 

They  were  more  anxious  to  prevent  disease  than 
to  cure  them,  and  issued  many  maxims  relating  to  the 
care  of  the  body,  as  wise  as  those  which  appertained 
to  the  soul  were  divine. 

Of  these  I  will  give  you  one  which  should  be 
written  in  letters  of  Gold. 

Bi  gu  sugach  geanmnaidh  mocheir  each. 

Cheerfulness,  temperance  and  early  rising. 


VII. 
THE  BARDD,  OR  MUSICIANS. 

AS  there  were  musicians  among  the  Levites,  and 
priests  among  the  Phoenicians  who  chanted 
bare-foot  and  in  white  surplices  the  sacred  hymns, 
so  there  were  bards  among  the  Druids. 
Who  were  divided  into  three  classes. 

I.  The  Fer-Laoi,  or  Hymnists,  who  sang  the 
essence  and  immortality  of  the  soul;  the  works  of 
nature;  the  course  of  the  celestial  bodies;  with  the 
order  and  harmony  of  the  spheres. 

II.  The  Senachies  who  sang  the  fabulous  histories 
of  their  ancestors  in  rude  stanzas,  and  who  with 
letters  cut  from  the  bark  of  trees  inscribed  passing 
events  and  became  the  historians  of  their  nation. 

The  Fer-Dan  who  were  accustomed  to  wander 
through  the  country,  or  to  be  numbered  in  the 
retinues  of  kings  and  nobles,  who  not  only  sang 
enconiums  upon  the  great  warriors  of  the  age,  but 
who  wrote  satires  upon  the  prevailing  vices,  worthy 
of  a  Juvenal  or  a  Horace. 

Si 


82  Ube  /IDusicians. 

I  can  best  give  the  reader  some  idea  of  the  style 
and  power  of  their  conceptions,  by  quoting  some  of 
their  axioms  which  have  descended  to  us  tradition- 
ally. 

They  are  in  the  form  of  Triads,  of  which  the 
subjects  are,  language — fancy  and  invention — the 
design  of  poetry — the  nature  of  just  thinking — rules 
of  arrangement — method  of  description — e.  g. 

The  three  qualifications  of  poetry — endowment  of 
genius,  judgment  from  experience,  and  happiness  of 
mind. 

The  three  foundations  of  judgment — bold  design, 
frequent  practice,  and  frequent  mistakes. 

The  three  foundations  of  learning — seeing  much, 
studying  much,  and  suffering  much. 

The  three  foundations  of  happiness — a  suffering 
with  contentment,  a  hope  that  it  will  come,  and  a 
belief  that  it  will  be. 

The  three  foundations  of  thought — perspicuity, 
amplitude,  and  preciseness. 

The  three  canons  of  perspicuity — the  word  that  is 
necessary,  the  quantity  that  is  necessary,  and  the 
manner  that  is  necessary. 

The  three  canons  of  amplitude — appropriate 
thought,  variety  of  thought  and  requisite  thought. 

How  full  of  wisdom  and  experience  !  what  sub- 
lime ideas  in  a  few  brief  words  ! 


ttbe  ZlDusicians.  83 

These  poets  were  held  in  high  honor  by  the 
Britons,  for  among  a  barbarous  people  musicians  are 
angels  who  bring  to  them  a  language  from  the 
other  world,  and  who  alone  can  soften  their  iron 
hearts  and  fill  their  bold  blue  eyes  with  gentle  tears. 

There  is  an  old  British  law  commanding  that  all 
should  be  made  freedmen  of  slaves  who  were  of  these 
three  professions.  A  scholar  learned  in  the  lan- 
guages— a  bard — or  a  smith.  When  once  the  smith 
had  entered  a  smithy,  or  the  scholar  had  been  polled, 
or  the  bard  had  composed  a  song,  they  could  never 
more  be  deprived  of  their  freedom. 

Their  ordinary  dress  was  brown,  but  in  religious 
ceremonies  they  wore  ecclesiastical  ornaments  called 
Bardd-gwewll,  which  was  an  azure  robe  with  a  cowl 
to  it — a  costume  afterwards  adopted  by  the  lay  monks 
of  Bardsey  Island  (the  burial-place  of  Myrrddin  or 
Merlin)  and  was  by  them  called  Cyliau  Duorn,  or 
black  cowls;  it  was  then  borrowed  by  the  Gauls  and 
is  still  worn  by  the  Capuchin  friars. 

Blue  which  is  an  emblem  of  the  high  heavens  and 
the  beautiful  sea  had  always  been  a  favorite  color 
with  the  ancient  Britons,  and  is  still  used  as  a  toilet 
paint  by  the  ladies  of  Egypt  and  Tartary.  Blue 
rosettes  are  the  insignia  of  our  students  in  the 
twin  universities,  and  for  the  old  Welsh  proverb. 
Y gwer  las  ni  chyll  moi  liuy  "  True  blue   keeps   its 


84  XTbe  /IDustctans. 

hue,"  one  of  our  proverbial  expressions  may  be 
traced. 

The  harp,  or  lyre,  invented  by  the  Celts  had  four 
or  five  strings,  or  thongs  made  of  an  ox's  hide,  and 
was  usually  played  upon  with  a  plectrum  made  of 
the  jaw-bone  of  a  goat.  But  we  have  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  it  was  the  instrument  invented  by  Tubal 
which  formed  the  model  of  the  Welsh  harps. 

Although  the  Greeks  (whom  the  learned  Egyp- 
tians nicknamed  "children,"  and  who  were  the  most 
vain-glorious  people  upon  the  earth)  claimed  the 
harp  as  an  invention  of  their  ancient  poets,  Juvenal 
in  his  third  satire  acknowledges  that  both  the  Ro- 
mans and  the  Greeks  received  it  from  the  Hebrews. 
This  queen  of  instruments  is  hallowed  to  our  remem- 
brance by  many  passages  in  the  Bible.  It  was  from 
the  harp  that  David  before  Saul  drew  such  enchant- 
ing strains  that  the  monarch's  heart  was  melted  and 
the  dark  frown  left  his  brow.  It  was  on  their  harps 
that  the  poor  Jewish  captives  were  desired  to  play, 
on  their  harps  which  swayed  above  them  on  the 
branches  of  the  willow  trees  while  the  waters  of 
Babylon  sobbed  past  beneath  their  feet. 

And  it  was  the  harp  which  St.  John  beheld  in  the 
white  hands  of  the  angels  as  they  stood  upon  the  sea 
of  glass  mingled  with  fire,  singing  the  song  of  Moses, 
the   servant   of  God,  and  the   song  of  the   lamb. 


Zbc  /IDustctans.  85 

The  trunks  of  these  harps  were  polished  and  in 
the  shape  of  a  heart;  they  were  embraced  between 
the  breast  and  the  arm;  their  strings  were  of  glossy 
hair.  In  Palestine  they  were  made  from  the  wood 
of  the  Cedars  of  Lebanon;  in  Britain  oi  Pr en-mas  am, 
or  the  sycamore. 

In  their  construction,  the  same  mysterious  regard 
was  paid  to  the  number  three.  Their  shape  was 
triangular;  their  strings  were  three  in  number,  and 
their  turning  keys  had  three  arms. 

In  later  times  the  Irish,  who  believe  that  they  are 
descended  from  David,  obtained  an  European  fame 
for  their  skill  in  the  making  of  this  instrument. 
Dante  mentions  the  circumstance,  and  the  harp  is 
still  a  mint-mark  upon  Irish  coin. 

The  Bards  from  what  we  can  learn  of  them,  neither 
debased  their  art  to  calumny  nor  to  adulation,  but 
were  in  every  way  as  worthy  of  our  admiration  as 
those  profound  philosophers  to  whom  alone  they 
were  inferior. 

We  learn  that,  (unlike  the  artists  of  later  times) 
they  were  peculiarly  temperate,  and  that  in  order  to 
inure  themselves  to  habits  of  abstinence  they  would 
have  all  kinds  of  delicacies  spread  out  as  if  for  a  ban- 
quet, and  upon  which  having  feasted  their  eyes  for 
some  time  they  would  order  to  be  removed. 

Also  that  they  did  their  utmost  to  stay  those  civil 


86  ^be  flDusictans. 

wars  which  were  the  bane  of  Britain,  and  that  often 
when  two  fierce  armies  had  stood  fronting  each  other 
in  array  of  battle,  their  swords  drawn,  their  spears 
pointing  to  the  foe  and  waiting  but  for  the  signal 
from  their  chieftains  to  begin  the  conflict,  the  Bards 
had  stepped  in  between  and  had  touched  their  harps 
with  such  harmony,  and  so  persuaded  them  with 
sweet  thrilling  verses,  that  suddenly,  on  either  side 
soldiers  had  dropped  their  arms  and  forgotten  the 
fierce  resentment  which  had  been  raging  in  their 
breasts. 


VIII. 

THE  OVADES,  OR   NOVICIATES. 

IN  writing  of  the  Derwydd,  or  philosophers,  I  have 
written  also  of  the  high  priests,  or  magicians — 
for  magnus  is  but  another  name  for  priest,  and  in  the 
Chinese  and  various  hieroglyphical  languages,  the 
same  sign  represents  a  magician  and  a  priest. 

I  have  now  to  describe  the  lower  order  of  sacri- 
ficers  who,  under  the  direction  of  their  masters,  slew 
the  victims  upon  the  altar,  and  poured  out  the  sacra- 
mental wine. 

The  Ovades  were  usually  dressed  in  white,  while 
their  sacerdotal  robes  were  of  green,  an  ancient  em- 
blem of  innocence  and  youth,  still  retained  in  our 
language,  but  debased  and  vulgarized  into  slang. 

They  are  generally  represented  with  chaplets  of 
oak-leaves  on  their  brows,  and  their  eyes  modestly 
fixed  on  the  ground. 

Having  been  carefully  trained  in  the  Druidic  sem- 
inaries, their  memory  being  stored  with  the  holy 
triads,  and  with  the  outward   ceremonies  of  their 

87 


88  ZTbe  IRoviciates. 

religion,  they  were  prepared  for  initiation  into  the 
sublime  mysteries  of  Druidism. 

During  a  period  of  probation,  the  Ovade  was 
closely  watched;  eyes,  to  him  invisible,  were  ever 
upon  him,  noting  his  actions  and  his  very  looks, 
searching  into  his  heart  for  its  motive,  and  into  his 
soul  for  its  abilities. 

He  was  then  subjected  to  a  trial  so  painful  to  the 
body,  so  terrible  to  the  mind,  that  many  lost  their 
senses  for  ever,  and  others  crawled  back  to  the  day- 
light pale  and  emaciated,  as  men  who  had  grown 
old  in  prison. 

These  initiations  took  place  in  caves,  one  of  which 
still  exists  in  Denbighshire.  We  have  also  some 
reason  to  believe  that  the  catacombs  of  Egypt  and 
those  artificial  excavations  which  are  to  be  found  in 
many  parts  of  Persia  and  Hindostan  were  constructed 
for  the  same  purpose. 

The  Ovade  received  several  wounds  from  a  man 
who  opposed  his  entrance  with  a  drawn  sword.  He 
was  then  led  blind-folded  through  the  winding  alleys 
of  the  cave  which  was  also  a  labyrinth.  This  was 
intended  to  represent  the  toilsome  wanderings  of  the 
soul  in  the  mazes  of  ignorance  and  vice. 

Presently  the  ground  would  begin  to  rock  beneath 
his  feet;  strange  sounds  disturbed  the  midnight 
silence.     Thunder  crashed  upon  him  like  the  fall  of 


Zhc  Wopictates.  89 

an  avalanche,  flashes  of  green  lightning  flickered 
through  the  cave  displaying  to  his  view  hideous 
spectres  arrayed  against  the  walls. 

Then  lighted  only  by  these  fearful  fires  a  strange 
procession  marched  past  him,  and  a  hymn  in  honor 
of  the  Eternal  Truth  was  solemnly  chanted  by  unseen 
tongues. 

Here  the  profounder  mysteries  commenced.  He 
was  admitted  through  the  North  Gate  or  that  of 
Cancer,  where  he  was  forced  to  pass  through  a  fierce 
fire.  Thence  he  was  hurried  to  the  Southern  Gate 
or  that  of  Capricorn,  where  he  was  plunged  into  a 
flood,  and  from  which  he  was  only  released  when 
life  was  at  its  last  gasp. 

Then  he  was  beaten  with  rods  for  two  days,  and 
buried  up  to  his  neck  in  snow. 

This  was  the  baptism  of  fire,  of  water,  and  of 
blood. 

Now  arrived  on  the  verge  of  death,  an  icy  chill 
seizes  his  limbs;  a  cold  dew  bathes  his  brow,  his 
faculties  fail  him;  his  eyes  close;  he  is  about  to  faint, 
to  expire,  when  a  strain  of  music,  sweet  as  the  dis- 
tant murmur  of  the  holy  brooks,  consoling  as  an 
angel's  voice,  bids  him  to  rise  and  to  live  for  the 
honor  of  his  God. 

Two  doors  with  a  sound  like  the  fluttering  of  wings 
are  thrown  open  before  him.     A  divine  light  bursts 


90  TLhc  IRovictates. 

upon  him,  he  sees  plains  shining  with  flowers  open 
around  him. 

Then  a  golden  serpent  is  placed  in  his  bosom  as 
a  sign  of  his  regeneration,  and  he  is  adorned  with  a 
mystic  zone  upon  which  are  engraved  twelve  mys- 
terious signs;  a  tiara  is  placed  upon  his  head;  his 
form  naked  and  shivering  is  clothed  in  a  purple  tunic 
studded  with  innumerable  stars;  a  crozier  is  placed 
in  his  hand.  He  is  a  king;  for  he  is  initiated;  for  he 
is  a  Druid. 


IX. 
RITES  AND  CEREMONIES. 

A  RELATION  of  the  duties  of  the  Ovades  as 
sacrificers  will  naturally  lead  us  into  a  de- 
scription of  the  ceremonies  of  the  priesthood,  of  their 
altars,  their  temples  and  their  objects  of  worship  or 
veneration. 

The  clachan,  or  stone  temples  of  the  Druids  were 
round  like  those  of  the  Chinese,  the  primitive  Greeks, 
the  Jews,  and  their  copyists  the  Templars.  This 
shape  was  adopted  because  it  was  typical  of  eternity, 
and  also  of  the  solar  light — the  word  circus  being 
derived  from  the  Phoenician  cir  or  cur,  the  Sun. 

Like  those  of  the  Thracians  they  were  open  at  the 
roof,  for  the  Druids  deemed  it  impious  to  attempt  to 
enclose  within  a  house  that  God,  whose  shrine  was 
the  universe. 

There  were  two  celebrated  temples  of  the  Druids, 
Abury  in  Wiltshire,  and  Carnac  in  Brittany,  which 
were  built  in  the  form  of  a  serpent. 

There  is  scarcely  a  spot  in  the  world  in  which  the 


92  IRites  ano  Ceremonies. 

serpent  has  not  received  the  prayers  and  praises  of 
men.  At  first  an  emblem  of  the  sun's  light  and 
power,  it  is  worshipped  in  lands  where  the  sun  is 
not  recognized  as  a  Deity,  for  instance  on  the  coasts 
of  Guinea  where  the  negroes  curse  him  every  morn- 
ing as  he  rises,  because  he  scorches  them  at  noon. 

The  winged  serpent  was  a  symbol  of  the  Gods  of 
Egypt,  Phoenicia,  China,  Persia,  and  Hindostan. 
The  Tartar  princes  still  carry  the  image  of  a  serpent 
upon  a  spear  as  their  military  standard.  Almost  all 
the  Runic  inscriptions  found  upon  tombs  are  en- 
graved upon  the  sculptured  forms  of  serpents.  In 
the  temple  of  the  Bona  Dea,  serpents  were  tamed 
and  consecrated.  In  the  mysteries  of  Bacchus, 
women  used  to  carry  serpents  in  their  hands  and 
twined  around  their  brows,  and  with  horrible  screams 
cry,  Eva  /  Eva  !  In  the  great  temple  of  Mexico, 
the  captives  taken  in  war  and  sacrificed  to  the  sun, 
had  wooden  collars  in  the  shape  of  a  serpent  put 
round  their  necks.  And  water-snakes  are  to  this 
day  held  sacred  by  the  natives  of  the  Friendly  Isles. 

It  was  not  only  worshipped  as  a  symbol  of  light, 
of  wisdom  and  of  health,  personified  under  the  name 
of  God,  but  also  as  an  organ  of  divination.  Serpents 
formed  the  instruments  of  the  Egyptian  enchanters, 
the  fetich  of  the  Hottentots,  and  the  girdles  of  the 
medicine-men  of  the  North  American  Indians.    The 


•Rites  ano  Ceremonies.  93 

Norwegians,  too,  of  the  present  day,  when  hunting 
will  often  load  their  guns  with  serpents  to  make 
them  fortunate. 

The  serpent  must  have  obtained  this  world-wide 
worship  from  its  beauty,  and  its  wisdom.  Subtle  in 
heart  beyond  all  the  beasts  of  the  field;  rapid  and 
mysterious  in  its  wary  footless  movements,  to  which 
the  ancients  were  wont  to  resemble  the  aerial  pro- 
gress of  the  Gods;  above  all  its  eyes  so  bright,  so 
lovely,  so  weird  in  their  powers  of  facinations,  no 
wonder  that  it  should  excite  the  awe  and  admiration 
of  superstitious  barbarians. 

And  they  believed  it  immortal,  for  every  year  they 
saw  it  cast  its  skin,  wrinkled  and  withered  with  age, 
and  when  they  tried  to  kill  it  they  found  that  it  re- 
tained life  with  miraculous  pertinacity. 

Finally  it  was  the  brazen  serpent  elevated  upon  a 
cross  that  Moses  erected  in  the  wilderness,  and 
upon  which  all  who  gazes  were  saved  from  death; 
and  it  was  this  serpent  which  Jewish  and  Christian 
writers  have  agreed  in  asserting  to  be  a  type  of  the 
Messiah. 

The  cromleachs  were  the  altars  of  the  Druids,  and 
were  so  called  from  a  Hebrew  word  signifying,  "to 
bow,"  and  from  the  bowing  of  the  worshippers  who 
believed  them  to  be  guarded  by  spirits. 

They  were  constructed  of  a  large  flat  stone  placed 


94  "Rites  ano  Ceremonies, 

upon  two  rough  pillars.  These  stones  were  always 
unhewn,  for  by  the  Druidic  law  it  was  ordained  that 
no  axe  should  touch  the  sacred  stones,  a  precept 
which  very  strangely  coincides  with  the  Mosaic  law. 
"  Thou  shalt  not  build  an  altar  of  hewn  stones."  Exod. 
xx,  25. 

These  cromleachs  were  also  sepulchres,  as  is  testi- 
fied by  the  number  of  urns  and  human  bones  that 
have  been  discovered  beneath  some  few  of  them.  It 
is  probable  that  their  clachan  were  used  for  the  same 
purpose,  as  the  Egyptian  mummies  were  interred  in 
the  catacombs  of  the  pyramids,  and  as  we  bury 
bodies  in  the  vaults  of  our  churches. 

We  generally  find  them  situated  on  hills  or  moun- 
tains, which  prove  that  the  Druids  entertained  the 
same  reverence  for  high  places  as  the  nations  of  the 
East,  and  even  the  Scandinavians,  for  we  read  in  the 
Erybygga-Saga  that  when  Thoralf  established  his 
colony  in  the  promontory  of  Thorsness  in  Iceland  he 
erected  an  eminence  called  Helgafelsy  the  Holy 
Mount,  upon  which  none  might  look  till  they  had 
made  their  ablutions  under  pain  of  death. 

And  sometimes  by  the  side  of  a  lake  or  running 
stream,  for  water  was  held  holy  by  the  Druids,  and 
they  were  even  wont  to  propitiate  its  deities,  by 
offering  it  presents. 

There  was  a  Druidic  temple  at  Toulouse,  on  the 


•Rttes  ano  (leremomes.  95 

borders  of  a  lake  into  which  the  Druids  threw  large 
quantities  of  gold,  and  in  which  Capion,  a  Roman 
knight,  and  his  followers  miserably  perished  in  an 
attempt  to  recover  it.  So,  Aurum  Tolosanuni, 
"Gold  from  Toulouse,"  became  a  bye-word  among 
the  Romans  to  express  any  accident  or  misfortune. 

In  the  islands  surrounding  Britain  and  Gaul,  es- 
pecially in  the  Channel  Islands  where  they  are  called 
Pouquelays,  these  altars  are  very  common.  Islands 
were  held  sacred  for  some  reason  by  the  ancients. 

They  were  often  erected  within  the  recesses  of  the 
sacred  grove  beneath  the  shadow  of  an  oak. 

This,  the  fairest  and  strongest  of  trees  has  been 
revered  as  a  symbol  of  God  by  almost  all  the  nations 
of  heathendom,  and  by  the  Jewish  Patriarchs. 

It  was  underneath  the  oaks  of  Mamre  that  Abra- 
ham dwelt  a  long  time,  and  where  he  erected  an 
altar  to  God,  and  where  he  received  the  three 
angels. 

It  was  underneath  an  oak  that  Jacob  hid  the  idols 
of  his  children,  for  oaks  were  held  sacred  and  invio- 
lable.    (Judges  II.  5.  6.) 

From  the  Scriptures,  too,  we  learn  that  it  was 
worshipped  by  the  Pagans  who  corrupted  the  He- 
brews (Hosea.  IV.  v.  13.  Ezekiah  VI.  13.  Isaiah  I. 
v.  29.) 

Homer  mentions  people  entering  into  compacts 


96  IRites  ano  Ceremonies. 

under  oaks  as  places  of  security.  The  Grecians  had 
their  vocal  oaks  at  Dodona.  The  Arcadians  believed 
that  stirring  the  waters  of  a  fountain  with  an  oaken 
bough  would  bring  rain.  The  Sclavonians  worship- 
ped oaks  which  they  enclosed  in  a  consecrated 
court. 

The  Romans  consecrated  the  oak  to  Jupiter  their 
Supreme  God,  as  they  consecrated  the  myrtle  to 
Venus,  the  laurel  to  Apollo,  the  pine  to  Cybele, 
the  poplar  to  Hercules,  wheat-ears  to  Ceres,  the 
olive  to  Minerva,  fruits  to  Pomona,  rose-trees  to  the 
river  nymphs,  and  hay  to  poor  Vertumnus  whose 
power  and  merits  could  obtain  him  nothing  better. 

The  Hindoos  who  had  no  oaks  revered  the  Banian 

tree. 

When  an  oak  died,  the  Druids  stripped  off  its 
bark,  &c,  shaped  it  reverently  into  the  form  of  a 
pillar,  a  pyramid,  or  a  cross,  and  still  continued  to 
worship  it  as  an  emblem  of  their  God. 

Besides  the  clanehan  and  cromleach  there  are  many 
stone  monuments  remaining  in  various  parts  of  Gaul 
and  Britain,  which  bear  the  Druid  stamp  in  their 
rudeness  and  simplicity. 

These  were  sometimes  trophies  of  victory,  some- 
times memorials  of  gratitude,  sometimes  images  of 

God. 

When  erected  they  were  anointed  with  rose-oil,  as 


•Rites  ano  Ceremonies*  97 

Jacob  anointed  the  first  stone  monument  on  record 
— that  which  he  raised  at  Bethel  in  memory  of  his 
dream. 

The  custom  of  raising  plain  stone  pillars  for  idol- 
atrous purposes  was  afterwards  adopted  by  the 
Pagans  and  forbidden  by  the  Mosaic  law  (Lev. 
XXVI.  1.) 

Mercury,  Apollo,  Neptune  and  Hercules  were 
worshipped  under  the  form  of  a  square  stone.  A 
large  black  stone  was  the  emblem  of  Buddha  among 
the  Hindoos,  and  of  Manah  Theus-Ceres  in  Arabia. 
The  Paphians  worshipped  their  Venus  under  the 
form  of  a  white  pyramid,  the  Thebans  their  Bacchus 
under  that  of  a  pillar,  the  Scandinavians  their  Odin 
under  that  of  a  cube,  the  Siamese  their  Sommonac- 
odum  under  that  of  a  black  pyramid. 

And  in  the  temple  of  the  Sun  at  Cuzco,  in  Peru, 
was  a  stone  column  in  the  shape  of  a  cone,  which 
was  worshipped  as  an  emblem  of  the  Deity. 

Every  one  has  heard  of  the  Stone  of  Memnon  in 
Egypt,  which  was  said  to  speak  at  sun -rise,  and  the 
remains  of  which  are  covered  with  inscriptions  by 
Greek  and  Latin  travelers  bearing  testimony  to  the 
fact. 

There  is  a  story  in  Giraldus  Cambrensis  which 
proves  that  the  Druids  had  the  same  superstition. 
In  his  time,  a  large  flat  stone  ten  feet  long,  six  feet 


98  "Kites  ano  Ceremonies. 

wide,  and  one  foot  thick  served  as  a  bridge  over  the 
river  Alun  at  St.  David's,  in  Pembrokeshire.  It  was 
called  in  British  Lech  Larar  "the  speaking  stone," 
and  it  was  a  tradition  that  if  a  dead  body  was  carried 
over  the  stone  it  would  speak,  and  that  with  the 
struggle  of  the  voice  it  would  crack  in  the  middle, 
and  that  then  the  chink  would  close. 

Keysler  informs  us  that  the  Northern  nations  be- 
lieved their  stone  deities  to  be  inhabited  by  fairies 
or  demons,  and  adduces  an  instance  from  the  Holm- 
veria  Saga  of  Norway. 

"  Indridus  going  out  of  his  house  lay  in  wait  for 
his  enemy  Thorstenus,  who  was  wont  to  go  to  the 
temple  of  his  God  at  such  a  particular  time.  Thors- 
tenus came  and,  entering  the  temple  before  sun-rise, 
prostrated  himself  before  the  stone -deity  and  offered 
his  devotion.  Indridus  standing  by  heard  the  stone 
speak,  and  pronounce  Thorstenus'  doom  in  these 
words: 

Tu  hue 
Ultima  vice 
Morti  vicinis  pedibus 
Terram  calcasti; 
Certfe  enim  antequam 
Sol  splendeat, 
Animosus  Indridus 
Odium  tibi  rependet. 

Heedless  of  thy  approaching  fate 
Thou  treadst  this  holy  ground; 


TRttes  and  Ceremonies.  99 

Last  step  of  life  !   thy  guilty  breast 

Ere  Phoebus  gilds  the  ruddy  East, 
Must  expiate 
Thy  murderous  hate 
Deep  pierc'd  with  crimson  wound. 

To  fire,  also,  as  an  emblem  of  the  sun,  the  Druids 
paid  peculiar  reverence. 

Indeed  fire  would  appear  to  have  been  the  chosen 
element  of  God.  In  the  form  of  a  flaming  bush  He 
appeared  to  Moses.  On  Mount  Sinai  His  presence 
was  denoted  by  torrents  of  flame,  and  in  the  form  of 
fire  he  preceded  the  little  band  of  Israelites  by  night, 
through  the  dreary  wilderness,  which  is  perhaps  the 
origin  of  the  custom  of  the  Arabians  who  always 
carry  fire  in  front  of  their  caravans. 

All  the  great  nations  had  their  holy  fires  which 
were  never  suffered  to  die.  In  the  temple  of  the 
Gaditanian  Hercules  at  Tyre,  in  the  Temple  of  Vesta 
at  Rome,  among  the  Brachmans,  the  Jews,  and  the 
Persians  were  these  immortal  fires  which  might  not 
be  desecrated  by  the  breath  of  men,  and  which 
might  be  fed  with  peeled  wood  alone.  So  also  the 
American  savages  when  they  have  gained  a  victory, 
would  light  fires  and  dance  round  them. 

The  Druids  thus  conducted  their  worship  of  the 
holy  element.  Having  stripped  the  bark  off  dry 
wood  they  poured  oil  of  roses  upon  it,  and  lighted 
it  by  rubbing  sticks  together,  which  is  said  to  have 
been  an  invention  of  the  Phoenicians. 


ioo  "Kites  ano  Ceremonies. 

To  this  they  prayed  at  certain  times,  and  whoever 
dared  to  blow  the  fire  with  his  mouth,  or  to  throw 
dirt  or  dead  beasts  into  it  they  punished  with  death. 

They  had  circular  temples  consecrated  to  their 
never-dying  fires;  into  these  the  priests  entered 
every  day,  and  reverently  fed  the  fire  and  prayed  to 
it  for  a  whole  hour,  holding  branches  of  vervain  in 
their  hands  and  crowned  with  tiaras  which  hung 
down  in  flaps  on  each  side  of  their  faces  covering 
their  cheeks  and  lips. 

They  also  kindled  the  Beltein,  or  fire  of  the  rock 
on  May-eve  to  welcome  the  sun  after  his  travels 
behind  the  clouds  and  tempests  of  the  dark  months. 
On  that  night  all  other  fires  were  extinguished,  and 
all  repaired  to  the  holy  mount  to  pay  their  annual 
tribute  to  the  Druids. 

Then  were  held  solemn  rites,  and  men  and  beasts, 
and  even  goblets  of  wine  were  passed  through  the 
purifying  flames.  After  which  the  fires  were  all 
relighted,  (each  from  the  sacred  fire)  and  general 
festivity  prevailed. 

In  Cornwall  there  are  Karn-Gollowa,  the  Cairn  of 
Lights,  and  Karn-Leskyz,  the  Cairn  of  Burnings 
which  names  proves  that  the  fiendish  rites  of  Moloch 
and  Baal  were  really  observed  with  all  their  impious 
cruelty  in  the  island  of  Britain. 

From  these  same  blood-thirsty  Phoenicians   who 


IRites  ant)  Ceremonies.  101 

had  taught  the  Israelites  to  sin,  the  Druids  learnt  to 
pollute  their  altars  with  human  blood,  and  to  assert 
that  nothing  was  so  pleasing  to  God  as  the  murder 
of  a  man. 

In  the  golden  age,  men's  hearts  softened  and  ele- 
vated by  gratitude  towards  their  Maker  offered  him 
the  choicest  herbs  and  the  sweetest  flowers  of  the 
soil. 

But  in  the  age  of  iron,  when  men  had  learnt  to 
tremble  at  their  own  thoughts,  to  know  that  they 
were  thieves,  and  liars,  and  murderers,  they  felt  that 
there  was  need  of  expiation. 

To  appease  the  God  whom  they  still  believed  to 
be  merciful,  they  offered  Him  Blood. 

They  offered  Him  the  blood  of  animals. 

And  then  they  offered  Him  the  most  innocent  and 
beautiful  of  His  creations — beautiful  virgins  and 
chaste  youths — their  eldest  sons,  their  youngest 
daughters. 

Do  you  disbelieve  me  ?  read  as  I  have  read  all 
the  great  writers  of  the  past,  and  then  you  will 
shudder  as  I  have  shuddered  at  such  terrible  wick- 
edness in  man. 

Read  Manetho,  Sanchionatho,  Herodotus,  Pausa- 
nias,  Josephus,  Philo  the  Jew,  Diodorus  of  Sicily, 
Strabo,  Cicero,  Caesar,  Macrobius,  Pliny,  Titus  Li- 
vius,  Lucan,  and  most  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  poets. 


io2  "Rites  ano  Ceremonies. 

Read  the  books  of  Leviticus,  Deuteronomy,  the 
Judges,  Kings,  the  io5th  Psalm,  the  Prophesies  of 
Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  and  many  of  the  old 
fathers,  and  there  you  will  find  that  the  Egyptians, 
the  Israelites,  the  Arabs,  the  Cathaginians,  the 
Athenians,  Spartans  and  Ionians,  the  Romans,  the 
Scythians,  the  Albanians,  the  Germans,  Iberians  and 
Gauls  had  adopted  this  cruel  custom,  which  like  the 
practice  of  magic  had  risen  in  Phoenicia,  and  had 
spread  like  a  plague  over  the  whole  world. 

The  Egyptians  sacrificed  every  year  a  young  and 
beautiful  virgin,  whom  arrayed  in  rich  robes,  they 
flung  into  the  Nile.  They  also  offered  up  men  with 
red  hair  at  the  shrine  of  Osiris. 

The  Spartans  whipped  boys  to  death  in  sight  of 
their  parents  before  starting  upon  an  expedition. 
The  natives  of  the  Tauric  Chersonesus  hospitably 
sacrificed  to  Diana  all  the  strangers  whom  chance 
threw  upon  their  coast.  The  Cimbri  ripped  their 
victims  open,  and  divined  from  their  smoking  en- 
trails. The  Norwegians  used  to  beat  their  brains 
out  with  an  axe,  the  Icelanders  by  dashing  them 
against  a  stone.  The  Scythians  cut  off  the  shoulder 
and  arm,  and  flinging  them  in  the  air  drew  omens 
from  the  manner  in  which  they  fell  upon  the  pile. 
The  Romans  and  Persians  buried  them  alive. 

This  mania  for  blood  was  universal.     Even  The- 


•Rites  ano  Ceremonies.  103 

mistocles,  the  deliverer  of  Greece,  had  once  sacri- 
ficed three  youths. 

The  ancient  Peruvians,  when  one  of  their  nation 
was  dangerously  ill,  sacrificed  his  eldest  son  or 
youngest  daughter  to  the  solar  deity,  entreating  him 
to  spare  the  father's  life.  And  periodically  at  their 
religious  festivals  they  murdered  children  and  vir- 
gins, drowning  them  and  then  sacrificing  them. 

And  the  ancient  Mexicans  forced  their  victims  to 
lie  down  upon  a  pyramidical  stone,  and  tearing  out 
their  hearts,  lifted  them  smoking  towards  the  sun. 

I  might  continue  this  long  and  disgusting  catalogue 
of  religious  crimes,  but  let  us  return  to  the  Druids, 
who  at  least  only  sacrificed  human  beings  in  some 
great  and  peculiar  crisis. 

The  word  sacrifice  means  an  offering  of  the  cake, 
and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  those  thin  broad 
cakes  of  the  ancient  Britons,  which,  with  a  libation 
of  flour,  milk,  eggs,  and  herbs,  or  milk,  dew  and 
acorns  are  still  superstitiously  offered  in  the  north  of 
Britain,  formed  the  usual  sacrifice. 

They  also  offered  the  boar,  and  it  is  not  improb- 
able that  the  hare,  hen  and  goose  which  they  were 
forbidden  to  eat,  but  which  Caesar  informs  us  that 
they  reared  causa  voluptatis>  were  used  for  sacrificial 
purposes. 

The  human  victims  were  selected  from  criminals 


104  IRttes  ano  Ceremonies. 

or  prisoners  of  war.  In  lack  of  these  they  were 
chosen  by  lot,  and  it  sometimes  happened  that 
Curtius-like  they  offered  themselves  up  for  their 
country. 

Such  a  one  was  led  into  a  sacred  forest  watered 
by  running  streams.  In  the  centre,  a  circular  space 
surrounded  by  grey  and  gigantic  stones.  Then  the 
birds  ceased  to  sing,  the  wind  was  hushed;  and  the 
trees  around  extended  their  spectral  arms  which  were 
soon  to  be  sprinkled  with  human  blood. 

Then  the  victim  would  sing  the  Song  of  Death. 
The  Druid  would  approach,  arrayed  in  his  judicial 
robes.  He  was  dressed  in  white;  the  serpent's  egg 
encased  in  gold  was  on  his  bosom;  round  his  neck 
was  the  collar  of  judgment  which  would  strangle 
him  who  delivered  an  unjust  sentence;  on  his  finger 
was  the  ring  of  divination;  in  his  hand  was  a  glitter- 
ing blade. 

They  would  crown  the  victim  with  oak  leaves  in 
sombre  mockery.  They  would  scatter  branches  of 
the  oak  upon  the  altar 

The  voices  of  the  blue-robed  Bards  would  chant 
a  solemn  dirge,  their  harps  would  tone  forth  sinister 
notes. 

Pale  and  stern  the  Druid  would  approach,  his 
knife  uplifted  in  the  air. 

He  would  stab  him  in  the  back.     With  mournful 


•Rites  ano  Ceremonies.  105 

music  on  his  lips  he  would  fall  weltering  in  blood, 
and  in  the  throes  of  death. 

The  diviners  would  draw  round,  and  would  calmly 
augur  from  his  struggles. 

After  which,  fresh  oak-leaves  would  be  cast  upon 
the  blood-polluted  altar,  and  a  death  feast  would  be 
held  near  the  corpse  of  the  sacrificed. 


X. 

PRIESTESSES. 

THE  Druids  had  many  rites  of  divination — from 
the  entrails  of  their  victims — from  the  flight  of 
birds — from  the  waves  of  the  sea — from  the  bubbling 
of  wells — and  from  the  neighing  of  white  horses. 

By  the  number  of  criminals  causes  in  the  year 
they  formed  an  estimate  of  the  scarcity  or  plenty  of 
the  year  to  come. 

They  also  used  divining  rods,  which  they  cut  in 
the  shape  of  twigs  from  an  apple  tree  which  bore 
fruit,  and  having  distinguished  them  from  each  other 
by  certain  marks,  threw  them  promiscuously  upon  a 
white  garment.  Then  the  Diviner  would  take  up 
each  billet  or  stick  three  times,  and  draw  an  inter- 
pretation from  the  marks  before  imprinted  on  them. 

The  ordering  of  these  divinations  were  usually 
placed  in  the  hands  of  women  who  formed  an  order 
of  Sibylls  among  these  ancient  prophets. 

It  has  been  the  belief  of  every  age  that  women 
are  more  frequently  blessed  with  the  gifts  of  inspi- 

1 06 


priestesses.  107 

ration,  and  that  the  mists  of  the  future  hang  less 
darkly  before  their  eyes  than  before  those  of  men. 

And  thus  it  was  that  women  were  admitted  to 
those  holy  privileges  which  none  others  could  obtain 
except  with  the  learning  and  struggles  of  a  lifetime, 
thus  it  was  that  even  the  commonest  women  was 
admitted  to  that  shrine  from  which  the  boldest  war- 
riors were  excluded. 

There  is,  however,  a  tradition  chat  at  one  period 
both  in  Gaul  and  Britain,  the  women  were  supreme, 
that  they  ruled  the  councils  of  state,  that  they  led 
the  armies  of  war.  That  the  Druids  by  degrees 
supplanted  them,  and  obtained  the  power  for  them- 
selves. But  to  propitiate  these  women  who  had  the 
blood  of  Albina  in  their  veins,  they  admitted  them 
into  their  order,  and  gave  them  the  title  of  Druid- 
esses. 

They  were  eventually  formed  into  three  classes. 

I.  Those  who  performed  the  servile  offices  about 
the  temple,  and  the  persons  of  the  Druids,  and  who 
were  not  separated  from  their  families. 

II.  Those  who  assisted  the  Druids  in  their  relig- 
ious services,  and  who,  though  separated  from  their 
husbands,  were  permitted  to  visit  them  occasionally. 

III.  A  mysterious  sisterhood  who  dwelt  in  strict 
chastity  and  seclusion,  and  who  formed  the  oracles 
of  Britain. 


108  priestesses. 

Such  is  the  origin  of  Christian  mummeries.  In 
all  important  events  the  Britons  repaired  to 
their  dwelling.  Not  even  a  marriage  was  consum- 
mated among  them  without  consulting  the  Druidess, 
and  her  purin,  the  seic  seona  of  the  Irish,  viz.,  five 
stones  thrown  up  and  caught  on  the  back  of  the 
hand,  and  from  which  she  divined. 

There  are  several  instances  recorded  in  classical 
history  of  predictions  from  these  priestesses  which 
came  true. 

Alexander  Severus  had  just  set  out  upon  an  ex- 
pedition when  he  was  met  by  a  Druidess,  "  Go  on, 
my  Lord,"  she  said  aloud  to  him  as  he  passed,  "  but 
beware  of  your  soldiers." 

He  was  assassinated  by  his  soldiers  in  that  same 
campaign. 

My  next  example  is  still  more  peculiar.  When 
Dioclesian  was  a  private  soldier  he  had  a  Druidess 
for  hostess,  who  found  him  every  day  reckoning  up 
his  accounts  with  a  military  exactitude  to  which  the 
army  in  those  days  was  a  stranger. 
"  You  are  niggardly,"  she  said. 
"Yes,"  he  answered,  "but  when  I  become  an 
Emperor  I  will  be  generous." 

"  You  have  said  no  jest,"  replied  the  priestess, 
for  you  will  be  Emperor  when  you  have  killed  a  wild 
boar — cum  aprum  occiderzs." 


priestesses.  109 

In  our  language  this  prophecy  loses  its  point  for 
there  is  a  play  upon  the  Latin  word  which  cannot  be 
translated.  Apev  means  both  the  name  of  a  man 
and  a  wild  beast,  and  thus  the  prediction  was  wrapped 
in  that  wise  ambiguity  which  has  been  the  charac- 
teristic of  all  human  prophecy. 

Dioclesian,  whose  ambition  gave  him  faith,  was 
much  perplexed  with  the  double  meaning  of  the  word, 
but  hunted  assiduously  till  he  had  killed  so  many 
wild  boars,  that  he  began  to  fear  he  had  taken  the 
word  in  its  wrong  acceptation. 

So  he  slew  Aper,  his  stepfather,  the  assassin  of 
Numerianus,  and  shortly  afterwards  sat  upon  the 
imperial  throne. 

In  marble,  as  well  as  in  ink,  there  are  memorials 
of  the  sect  of  Druidesses.  The  following  inscription 
was  discovered  at  Metz  in  Normandy: 

SILVANO 

SACR 

ET  NYMPHIS  LOCI 

APETE  DRUIS 

ANTISTITA 

SOMNO  MONITA. 

Of  Druidic  oracles  we  know  only  of  one  at  Kildare 
in  Ireland;  of  one  at  Toulouse  which  ceased  when 
Christianity  was  introduced  there  by  St.  Saturnins; 


no  priestesses. 

of  one  at  Polignac  dedicated  to  Apollo,  or  Belenus, 
or  Baal;  and  most  celebrated  of  all  that  in  the  island 
of  Sena  (now  Sain)  at  the  mouth  of  the  River 
Loire. 

This  island  was  inhabited  by  seven  young  women 
who  were  beautiful  as  angels,  and  furious  as  demons. 

They  were  married  but  their  husbands  might 
never  visit  them.  The  foot  of  man  was  not  per- 
mitted to  set  foot  upon  their  isle. 

When  the  mantle  of  night  had  began  to  descend 
upon  the  earth,  seven  dusky  forms  might  be  seen 
gliding  to  the  shore,  and  springing  into  their  wicker 
boats,  which  were  covered  with  the  skins  of  beasts, 
would  row  across  to  the  main-land,  and  fondle  with 
their  husbands,  and  smile  upon  them  as  if  with  the 
sweet  innocence  of  youth. 

But  when  the  streaks  of  light  began  to  glimmer 
in  the  East,  like  restless  spirits  summoned  back  to 
their  daylight  prison,  strange  fires  would  gleam  from 
their  eyes,  and  they  would  tear  themselves  from 
their  husband's  arms. 

To  them  came  the  sailors  who  fished  and  traded 
on  the  seas,  and  entreated  them  for  fair  winds.  But 
as  they  came  and  as  they  spoke,  they  shuddered  at 
the  sight  of  these  women  whose  faces  were  distorted 
by  inspiration,  whose  voices  seemed  to  be  full  of 
blood. 


priestesses.  m 

When  Christianity  began  to  prevail  in  the  north, 
it  was  believed  that  these  women,  by  culling  certain 
herbs  at  various  periods  of  the  moon,  transformed 
themselves  into  winged  and  raging  beasts,  and 
attacking  such  as  were  baptized  and  regenerated  by 
the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  killed  them  without  the 
visible  force  of  arms,  opened  their  bodies,  tore  out 
their  hearts  and  devoured  them;  then  substituting 
wood  or  straw  for  the  heart,  made  the  bodies  live  on 
as  before  and  returned  through  the  clouds  to  their 
island-home. 

It  is  certain  that  they  devoted  themselves  chiefly 
to  the  service  of  the  Moon,  who  was  said  to  exercise 
a  peculiar  influence  over  storms  and  diseases — the 
first  of  which  they  pretended  to  predict,  the  latter  to 
cure. 

They  worshipped  her  under  the  name  of  Ked  or 
Ceridwen,  the  northern  name  for  the  Egyptian  Isis. 

They  consecrated  a  herb  to  her,  called  Belinuncia, 
in  the  poisonous  sap  of  which  they  dipped  their 
arrows  to  render  them  as  deadly  as  those  malignant 
rays  of  the  moon,  which  can  shed  both  death  and 
madness  upon  men. 

It  was  one  of  their  rites  to  procure  a  virgin  and  to 
strip  her  naked,  as  an  emblem  of  the  moon  in  an 
unclouded  sky.  They  they  sought  for  the  wondrous 
selago  or  golden  herb.     She  who  pressed  it  with  her 


H2  priestesses. 

foot  slept,  and  heard  the  language  of  animals.  If 
she  touched  it  with  iron,  the  sky  grew  dark  and  a 
misfortune  fell  upon  a  world.  When  they  had  found 
it,  the  virgin  traced  a  circle  round  it,  and  covering 
her  hand  in  a  white  linen  cloth  which  had  never 
been  before  used,  rooted  it  out  with  a  point  of  her 
little  finger — a  symbol  of  the  crescent  moon.  Then 
they  washed  it  in  a  running  spring,  and  having 
gathered  green  branches  plunged  into  a  river  and 
splashed  the  virgin,  who  was  thus  supposed  to  re- 
semble the  moon  clouded  with  vapors.  When  they 
retired,  the  virgin  walked  backwards  that  the  moon 
might  not  return  upon  its  path  in  the  plain  of  the 
heavens. 

They  had  another  rite  which  procured  them  a 
name  as  infamous  and  as  terrible  as  that  of  the 
Sirens  of  the  South,  who  were  really  Canaanite 
priestesses  that  lured  men  to  their  island  with  melo- 
dious strains,  and  destroyed  them  as  a  sacrifice  to 
their  Gods. 

They  had  a  covered  temple  in  imitation  probably 
of  the  two  magnificent  buildings  which  the  Greek 
colonists  had  erected  at  Massilia.  This  it  was  their 
custom  annually  to  unroof,  and  to  renew  the  cover- 
ing before  the  sun  set  by  their  united  labors. 

And  if  any  woman  dropt  or  lost  the  burden  that 
she  was  carrying,  she  was  immediately  torn  to  pieces 


{priestesses.  113 

by  these  savage  creatures,  who  daubed  their  faces 
and  their  white  bosoms  with  their  victim's  blood, 
and  carried  her  limbs  round  the  temple  with  wild 
and  exulting  yells. 

It  was  this  custom  which  founded  the  story  told  at 
Athens  and  at  Rome,  that  in  an  island  of  the  North- 
ern seas  there  were  virgins  who  devoted  themselves 
to  the  service  of  Bacchus,  and  who  celebrated  orgies 
similar  to  those  of  Samothrace. 

For  in  those  plays,  performed  in  honor  of  Dion- 
usus,  there  was  always  a  representation  of  a  man 
torn  limb  from  limb.  And  in  the  Island  of  Chios,  as 
in  Sena,  this  drama  was  enacted  to  the  life. 


BOOK    THE    FOURTH. 


THE    DESTRUCTION    OF    THE    DRUIDS. 


I. 

THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  DRUIDS. 

ON  the  South  coast  of  Britain  the  people  were 
thronging  by  hundreds  to  the  sea-shore.  It 
was  to  see  a  vessel  which  was  sailing  past,  and  which 
had  come  from  some  strange  country  across  the  seas. 

Its  prow  was  adorned  with  a  swan's  head  and  neck 
made  of  bronze.  Below  the  prow  and  projecting  a 
little  above  the  keel  was  a  brazen  beak,  which  was 
called  the  rostrum  and  which  had  been  invented  by 
the  Tyrrhenian  Pisceus  for  breaking  the  sides  of  the 
enemy's  ships. 

The  stern  was  elevated  and  adorned  with  the 
figure  of  a  God.  There  seated,  they  could  distin- 
guish the  prominent  figure  of  a  man  who  paddled  a 
huee  broad-bladed  oar  backwards  and  forwards  in 
the  water,  and  with  which  he  appeared  to  guide  the 
vessel. 

There  were  two  masts  made  of  fire-wood  from  the 
forests  of  Scandinavia,  and  a  triangular  sail  suspended 
from  each,  inflated  by  the  wind. 

117 


n8  Destruction  of  tbe  BruloS. 

The  sides  of  this  vessel  presented  an  extraordin- 
ary sight.  Three  banks  of  rowers,  raised  above 
each  other,  were  plying  their  oars  which  swung  in 
leather  thongs,  and  which  surrounded  the  ship  with 
creamy  foam,  and  which  dashed  the  transparent 
spray  high  in  the  air. 

The  Britons  perched  upon  the  rocks,  or  in  their 
little  wicker  boats,  continued  to  watch  this  ship  till 
it  had  disappeared,  and  then  returned  to  their  homes 
to  relate  this  incident  to  their  wives  with  Celtic 
garrulity. 

It  remained  to  them  an  enigma,  till  they  received 
intelligence  from  the  merchants  of  the  main  that  the 
ship  was  a  Roman  trireme,  or  war  galley;  that  its 
commander  was  Caius  Volusenus,  and  that  he  had 
been  sent  by  Julius  Caesar  the  Divine,  to  explore  the 
coasts  of  that  country  upon  which  he  meditated  an 
invasion. 

In  fact,  it  was  this  great  general  who,  aspiring  to 
outvie  the  conquests  of  Pompey,  had  determined  to 
subdue  this  island  of  Britain,  which  was  then  only 
known  to  the  world  by  some  vague  and  exaggerated 
reports  of  the  ferocity  of  its  inhabitants,  the  perils 
of  its  seas,  the  darkness  of  its  sky,  and  the  marvel- 
ous beauty  of  its  pearls. 

However,  the  remoteness  of  the  country  with  the 
difficulty  and  danger  of  the  enterprise  were  those 


Destruction  of  tbe  £>rufos.  119 

obstacles  which  form  the  stepping-stones  to  great- 
ness; while  the  precious  stones  and  metals  with 
which  it  was  said  to  abound,  served  to  excite  the 
cupidity  of  his  soldiers  whose  souls  were  less  open 
to  those  glorious  passions  which  elevated  that  of 
their  commander. 

The  brigands  and  pirates  (that  is  to  say  the  in- 
vaders) of  those  days  even,  considered  it  necessary 
to  invent  a  paltry  excuse  for  some  act  of  lawless 
oppression;  and  Caesar  before  he  attacked  the  free- 
dom and  properties  of  a  nation,  affirmed  that  it  was 
in  revenge  for  the  assistance  which  a  small  tribe  of 
Britons  had  rendered  to  his  enemies  the  Gauls. 

The  Britons  terrified  by  this  report,  sent  ambass- 
adors to  Rome.  Caesar  received  them  kindly,  and 
sent  Commius,  a  Roman  to  whom  he  had  given  land 
in  Gaul,  as  his  ambassador  in  return. 

The  Britains  violated  the  law  of  nations  and  put 
Commius  in  prison.     Caesar  invaded  Britain. 

Then  the  groves  of  the  Druids  resounded  with 
the  cries  of  victims,  and  blood  flowed  from  the  knife 
of  the  sacrificer.  Then  the  huge  image  of  a  bull 
made  of  wicker-work  was  erected,  and  filled  with 
animals  and  men,  was  set  on  fire,  while  the  drums 
and  cymbals  of  the  priests  drowned  those  piteous 
cries  which  strange  to  say  was  thought  ill-omened 
to  hear. 


120  Destruction  of  tbe  5>rutos. 

Then  the  Bards  who  before  had  sung  the  blessings 
of  peace,  and  who  had  parted  armies  in  their  fierce 
strife,  sang  the  war-hymns  of  their  ancestors,  and 
fired  every  heart  with  fortitude  and  emulation. 

On  the  26th  of  August,  in  the  year  55  b.  c,  at 
about  ten  o'clock  in  the  forenoon,  Caesar  reached 
the  British  coasts,  where  he  found  the  hills  covered 
with  armed  men. 

He  sailed  along  the  coast  till  he  came  to  that  low 
sandy  plain  on  which  the  town  of  Deal  now  stands. 
It  was  there  that  he  intended  to  land,  and  there  that 
the  Britons,  perceiving  the  prows  of  his  vessels 
turned  towards  the  shore,  crowded  with  horse,  foot 
and  chariots  to  repel  him. 

The  water  was  too  shallow  to  admit  of  the  galleys 
approaching  close  to  land.  The  Romans  had  there- 
fore to  wade  through  the  sea  under  a  cloud  of  ar- 
rows, and  fighting  with  waves  as  well  as  with  men. 
Thus  they  were  thrown  into  disorder,  and  the  waters 
were  reddened  with  their  blood.  But  Caesar  had 
commanded  the  rowing-boats  to  approach,  in  which 
were  erected  slings  with  divers  instruments  of  war, 
and  which  darted  over  the  water  like  sharks  spring- 
ing to  their  prey. 

The  Britons  had  begun  to  yield,  but  were  rallying 
their  courage  as  they  saw  that  the  Romans  were 
fearing  those  waves  which  bore  past  on  their  dark 


Destruction  of  tbe  H)ruios.  121 

bosoms  the  corpses  of  their  comrades.  When  the 
standard-bearer  of  the  tenth  legion  invoked  the 
gods  and  cried: — "  Follow  me,  if  you  do  not  wish 
me  to  lose  my  standard  among  the  foe;  but  if  I  lose 
my  life,  I  shall  have  done  my  duty  to  Rome,  and  to 
my  general." 

The  brave  man  sprang  into  the  sea,  with  the 
brazen  eagle  held  aloft,  and  his  bright  sword  flashing 
in  his  hand.  The  whole  legion  followed  him,  and 
after  a  long  contest  obtained  a  victory  which  had  the 
Romans  possessed  cavalry  to  pursue  their  routed 
enemy,  would  have  been  as  sanguinary  as  it  was 
glorious  and  decisive. 

From  that  epoch  indeed,  Britain  may  be  consid- 
ered as  a  Roman  state,  and  its  after  history  as  merely 
the  history  of  its  insurrections. 

Under  Julius  Caesar,  the  rebellion  of  Cassebilanus 
compelled  him  to  make  a  second  expedition  against 
Britain. 

Augustus  threatened  to  invade  their  island  if  the 
Britons  continued  to  refuse  to  pay  taxes.  Intim- 
idated by  his  menaces,  they  sent  ambassadors  to 
Rome  who  implored  the  pardon  of  the  Emperor, 
and  brought  him  large  gifts,  and  swore  fealty  to  him 
in  the  temple  of  Mars. 

The  Britons  broke  their  oath  under  the  reign  of 
Caligula,  who  made  grand  preparations  for  an  invasion 


i22  Destruction  ot  tbe  Bruios. 

of  the  island,  but  who  preferred  leading  his  army 
against  the  ocean  which  he  had  conquered  in  this 
manner. 

Having  drawn  up  all  his  men  in  battle  array  upon 
the  seashore,  he  caused  the  balistas,  or  slings,  and 
other  instruments  of  war  to  be  ranged  before  them; 
he  then  sailed  in  a  war-galley  some  little  distance 
into  the  sea,  returned,  ordered  his  trumpeters  to 
sound  the  charge,  and  the  soldiers  to  fill  their  helmets 
with  the  shells  from  the  beach,  which  he  stored  as 
the  trophies  of  a  conquered  enemy  in  the  Capitol. 
Having  commended  the  courage  of  his  soldiers  and 
rewarded  them  profusely,  he  erected  a  tower  upon 
the  spot  as  if  to  prevent  the  nation  from  forgetting 
that  Caesar  was  a  madman. 

This  display  of  imbecility  naturally  strengthened 
the  Britons  in  their  resolution  to  pay  no  taxes,  and 
to  re-assert  their  freedom. 

When  Claudius  Caesar  came  to  the  throne,  he 
determined  (partly  on  the  advice  of  Bericus,  a  British 
outlaw)  to  invade  this  rebellious  state. 

Aulus  Plautius  was  placed  at  the  head  of  a  large 
army,  and  after  several  fierce  engagements  returned 
to  Rome  where  he  was  rewarded  with  an  ovation. 

Ostorius  was  sent  to  Britain  in  the  same  reign  to 
quell  an  insurrection,  and  also  returned  successful, 
bringing  with  him  Caractacus,  its  leader,  as  prisoner. 


^Destruction  of  tbe  Brutos.  123 

In  the  reign  of  the  blood-thirsty  Nero,  Suetonius 
was  appointed  Governor  of  Britain.  For  two  whole 
years  he  made  war  upon  the  refractory  Britons  with 
great  success,  subduing  fresh  tribes  and  establishing 
garrisons. 

But  he  had  long  perceived  that  there  was  an  in- 
fluence working  against  him,  which  was  all  the  more 
powerful  because  it  was  concealed.  It  was  that  of 
the  Druids,  who  still  possessed  an  extraordinary 
sway  over  the  minds  of  British  warriors,  and  who 
animated  them  with  promises  of  paradise  to  the  de- 
fence of  their  country  and  their  homes. 

He  discovered  that  the  chief  stronghold  of  the 
craft  was  the  island  of  Mona,  now  Anglesea.  It  was 
to  Mona  that  the  British  chieftains  resorted  as  an 
oracle,  to  learn  their  destinies  and  to  receive  the 
encouragements  of  those  whom  they  revered.  It 
was  to  Mona  that  the  wounded  were  borne,  and 
were  placed  under  the  gentle  care  of  those  physicians 
who  knew  the  secret  properties  of  all  herbs  and 
flowers.  It  was  to  Mona  that  the  Derwydd,  weary 
with  warfare  had  withdrawn,  and  for  which  they  had 
deserted  their  magnificent  seat  at  Abury,  and  their 
circular  temple  in  Salisbury  plain. 

This  island  is  reported  to  have  been  one  of  the 
fortunate  islands  sung  of  by  the  Grecian  poets,  as 
the  Elysian  fields.     It  was  watered  by  clear  streams 


124  Destruction  of  tbe  Drutos. 

it  was  clothed  with  fair  meadows  like  a  soft  green 
mantle;  it  was  full  of  oaken  groves  sacred  to  the 
Gods,  from  which  it  was  called  Ynys  Dewyll  the  dark 
and  shadowy  island. 

It  was  in  the  year  a.  d.  6i,  that  Suetonius  resolved 
to  invade  this  delicious  retreat,  and  to  carry  the 
sword  into  the  palace  of  the  Arch- Druid,  into  the 
seminary  of  the  Bardic  Muse. 

He  forded  the  narrow  channel  which  divides  the 
isle  from  the  main -land  with  his  cavalry,  while  his 
infantry  crossed  over  in  flat-bottomed  boats,  called 
scaphcz,  and  by  which  we  learn  that  they  landed  near 
Llamdan  where  there  is  a  place  called  Pant  yr 
yscraphie  to  this  day. 

As  the  Romans  landed,  they  were  petrified  by  the 
horrible  sight  which  awaited  them. 

It  was  night,  and  the  British  army  dusky  and  grim, 
stood  arrayed  against  them.  Women  clad  in  dark 
and  mournful  garments,  and  carrying  torches  in 
their  hands  like  the  furies  of  hell,  were  running  up 
and  down  the  ranks  uttering  loud  wailing  cries,  while 
the  Druids  kneeling  before  them  with  hands  raised 
to  heaven,  made  the  air  resound  with  frightful  im- 
precations. 

At  some  distance  behind  them,  in  the  obscurity  of 
a  neighboring   grove,  twinkled   innumerable  fires. 


Destruction  of  tbe  ©ruios.  125 

In  these  the  Roman  prisoners  were  to  be  burnt 
alive. 

At  first,  horror-struck,  they  remained  motionless: 
it  was  only  when  their  generals  exhorted  them  not 
to  fear  a  crowd  of  women  and  priests,  and  when  a 
flight  of  arrows  from  the  Britons  assured  them  that 
they  had  really  flesh  and  blood  foes  to  contend  with, 
that  they  could  be  brought  to  advance  to  the  charge 
with  their  usual  valor  and  precision. 

That  night  the  Druids  were  burnt  in  the  flames 
which  they  themselves  had  lighted. 

But  there  were  many  who  escaped  into  the  recesses 
of  the  sacred  groves,  or  by  boat  to  the  neighboring 
isles.  These  only  waited  for  an  opportunity  to  excite 
the  Britons  to  fresh  struggles  for  their  freedom,  and 
such  an  opportunity  was  soon  afforded. 

Prasutagus,  King  of  the  Iceni,  having  died,  left 
the  half  of  his  property  to  Caesar  and  half  to  his 
daughters.  This  which  had  been  done  to  obtain  the 
favor  of  the  Romans  had  an  opposite  effect.  His 
kingdom  and  palace  were  plundered  and  destroyed, 
his  daughters  ravished,  his  queen  beaten  like  a  slave. 

The  Britons  driven  to  despair  by  these  outrages 
took  arms  under  Boadicea,  the  widow  of  Prasutagus. 

Then  the  image  of  victory  which  the  Romans  had 
erected,  fell  down  without  any  apparent  cause  and 
backwards  as  if  it  would  give  place  to   its  enemies. 


126  destruction  of  tbe  Brutos. 

And  certain  women,  distempered  with  fury,  went 
singing  by  way  of  prophecy  that  destruction  was  at 
hand.  And  strange  sounds  were  heard  in  the  council 
house  of  the  Romans,  and  their  theatre  echoed  with 
hideous  howlings,  and  a  bleeding  sword  was  seen  in 
the  sky,  and  a  spectre  in  the  arm  of  the  sea,  and  the 
ocean  was  reddened  as  if  with  blood,  and  the  shape 
of  men's  bodies  were  left  in  the  sand  at  the  ebb  of 
the  tide. 

The  Britons  won  several  battles,  and  cruelly  mas- 
sacred all  the  Romans  that  they  took  captive  without 
distinction  either  of  age  or  sex. 

It  was  already  sung  by  the  Bards  who  accompanied 
the  army  with  their  three-stringed  harps  that  Britain 
was  free. 

But  Suetonius  with  his  formidable  fourteenth 
legion  was  as  yet  unconquered. 

With  ten  thousand  men  he  occupied  a  strong 
possession  in  a  pass  at  the  head  of  an  open  plain, 
with  a  thick  wood  behind  for  purposes  of  retreat  and 
ambush. 

Here  were  drawn  up  the  Roman  cavalry,  armed 
after  the  Greek  fashion  with  spears  and  bucklers, 
and  the  infantry  in  due  order  of  battle — the  velites 
with  javelin  and  target — the  hastati  with  their  shields 
and  Spanish  swords,  and  coats  of  mail — and  the 
triarii  with  their  pikes. 


Destruction  of  tbe  E>ruios*  127 

The  British  army  numbered  230,000  men,  which 
was  divided  into  their  infantry,  their  cavalry,  and 
their  war-chariots.  The  infantry  also  was  divided 
into  three  nations,  which  were  subdivided  into  family 
tribes  resembling  the  Highland  clans. 

Those  of  the  South  were  habited  like  the  Belgic 
Gauls  in  woolen  tunics  thickly  woven  with  coarse 
harsh  wool;  their  legs  and  thighs  covered  with  close 
garments,  called  Braclia.  They  wore  also  helmets 
of  brass,  adorned  with  figures  of  birds  or  beasts 
rudely  carved;  iron  breastplates,  protruding  with 
hooks;  a  long  sword  hanging  obliquely  across  their 
thio-hs;  a  shield  ornamented  with  figures;  and  a 
huge  dart  whose  shaft  was  of  iron,  a  cubit  in  length 
and  as  broad  as  two  hands  put  together. 

The  inland  nations  were  clothed  in  the  skins  of 
beasts  and  armed  with  spears  and  bucklers. 

The  Caledonians  went  naked,  armed  only  with 
long  broad  pointless  swords,  and  short  spears  with 
round  balls  of  brass  at  the  end,  with  which  they  used 
to  make  a  noise  before  battle  to  frighten  the  horses 
of  the  enemy. 

These  Northern  nations  were  of  all  the  most  reso- 
lute and  troublesome  enemies  of  Rome;  for  they 
could  sleep  on  bogs  covered  with  water,  and  live 
upon  the  barks  and  roots  of  trees,  and  possessed  a 
peculiar  kind  of  meat,  a  morsel  of  which  no  larger 


i28  destruction  of  tbe  H>rutos. 

than  a  bean  could  protect  them  for  days  from  hunger 
and  thirst. 

The  cavalry  were  mounted  upon  small  but  hardy 
and  mettlesome  horses,  which  they  managed  with 
great  dexterity.  Their  arms  were  the  same  as  those 
of  the  infantry,  for  they  would  often  dismount  from 
their  horses  and  fight  on  foot. 

Their  war-chariots  were  adorned  with  beautiful 
carvings,  and  were  guided  by  the  flower  of  the 
nobility.  They  were  furnished  with  enormous  hooks 
and  scythes,  which  spread  death  around  as  they  were 
driven  at  terrific  speed  through  the  ranks  of  the  foe. 

The  plain  was  surrounded  by  carts  and  wagons  in 
which,  according  to  the  Celtic  custom,  were  placed 
the  wives  and  daughters  of  the  warriors  who  ani- 
mated them  with  their  cries,  and  who  tended  the 
wounded  that  were  brought  to  them  from  the  field 
of  blood. 

In  the  midst  of  this  army  there  was  a  woman 
standing  in  a  chariot,  clothed  in  a  mantle,  with  a  gold 
chain  round  her  neck,  her  face  grave  and  stern,  her 
yellow  hair  falling  to  the  ground. 

It  was  Queen  Boadicea,  who  with  her  two  daugh- 
ters by  her  side,  had  come  to  die  or  to  be  revenged. 

With  a  royal  dignity  sublime  in  its  shamelessness, 
she  showed  them  her  body  covered  with  sore  and 
ignoble  stripes;  with  a  trembling  hand  she  pointed 


destruction  ot  tbe  H)ruios.  129 

to  her  two  daughters  disgraced  and  defiled;  with  a 
loud  and  fierce  voice  she  reminded  them  of  their 
victories,  and  prayed  to  God  to  complete  their  work 
of  vengeance. 

"  Ye  Britons,  she  cried,  are  wont  to  fight  under 
the  conduct  of  a  woman,  but  now  I  ask  ye  not  to 
follow  me  because  I  am  descended  from  illustrious 
ancestors,  nor  because  my  kingdom  has  been  stolen 
from  me.  I  ask  ye  to  avenge  me  as  a  simple  woman 
who  has  been  whipped  with  rods,  and  whose  daugh- 
ters have  been  ravished  before  her  eyes.  These 
Romans  are  insatiable,  they  respect  neither  the  age 
of  our  fathers,  nor  the  virginity  of  our  daughters. 
They  tax  our  bodies;  they  tax  our  very  corpses. 
And  what  are  they?  They  are  not  men.  They 
bathe  in  tepid  water,  live  on  dressed  meats,  drink 
undiluted  wine,  anoint  themselves  with  spikenard 
and  repose  luxuriously.  They  are  far  inferior  to  us. 
Dread  them  not.  They  must  have  shade  and  shelter, 
pounded  corn,  wine  and  oil,  or  they  perish.  While 
to  us  every  herb  and  root  is  food,  every  juice  is  oil 
every  stream  wine,  every  tree  a  house.  Come  then, 
remember  your  past  victories,  remember  the  causes 
of  this  war,  and  you  will  understand  that  the  day  is 
come  when  you  must  either  conquer  or  die.  Such 
at  least  shall  be  a  woman's  lot;  let  those  live  who 
desire  to  remain  slaves."     So  saying,  she  loosed  a 


130  Destruction  of  tbe  Brufos. 

hare  as  an  omen  of  victory  from  her  bosom,  and  the 
Britons  with  wild  shouts  advanced  upon  their  foe. 

Suetonius  cheered  his  veterans  with  a  few  em- 
phatic words,  and  showed  them  with  contempt  the 
wild  and  disorderly  multitude  which  poured  confu- 
sedly towards  them.  He  bid  the  trumpets  sound  and 
the  troops  advance. 

Then  arose  a  terrible  struggle — a  nation  righting 
for  its  freedom — an  army  fighting  for  its  fame. 

Alas!  that  sea  of  blood,  that  dreadful  apparition, 
those  figures  in  the  sand  were  omens  of  Britain's 
downfall.  Four-score  thousand  of  its  proudest 
warriors  were  slain;  their  wives  and  daughters  were 
butchered,  and  Boadicea  overcome  with  sorrow  and 
disgrace,  destroyed  herself  with  poison. 

Thus  ends  the  reign  of  the  Druids;  the  priest-kings 
of  the  North.  Thus  they  were  stripped  of  their 
crowns,  and  their  sceptres,  and  their  regal  robes,  and 
compelled  to  fly  to  the  islands  of  the  Irish  channel 
and  the  German  Sea,  where  they  dwelt  in  hollow 
oaks  and  in  little  round  stone  houses,  many  of  which 
still  remain  and  are  held  in  reverence  by  the  simple 
islanders. 

In  Gaul  the  work  of  destruction  had  been  com- 
pleted even  prior  to  the  time  of  Suetonius.  This 
beautiful  religion  had  been  proscribed  by  Tiberius 


Destruction  ot  tbe  Druios.  131 

ostensibly  because  it  permitted  human  sacrifices, 
really  because  it  possessed  a  dangerous  power.  This 
prohibition  had  been  afterwards  enforced  by  Claudius, 
and  the  Druids  were  massacred  by  the  Romans  wher- 
ever they  were  to  be  found.  The  priestesses  of  Sena 
were  burnt  by  one  of  the  ancient  Dukes  of  Brittany. 

Yet  it  is  difficult  to  subroot  an  ancient  religion  by 
imperial  edicts.  The  minds  of  men  though  prone  to 
novelty  will  frequently  return  fondly  to  their  first 
faiths,  as  the  hearts  of  maidens  creep  back  to  former 
and  almost  forgotten  loves. 

In  the  fifth  century,  Druidism  sprang  back  to  life 
under  the  mighty  Merlin,  whose  prophecies  became 
so  famous  throughout  Gaul  and  Britain,  and  who 
forms  so  conspicuous  a  character  in  the  Arthurian 
romances. 

But  these  wee  drops  of  the  elixir  vitce  which  could 
only  animate  the  corpse  for  a  brief  space — which  but 
gave  vigor  to  the  frame,  and  light  to  the  eyes,  as  a 
lamp  apparently  extinguished  will  burst  into  flame 
ere  it  dies  out  for  ever. 

We  find  many  decrees  of  Roman  emperors,  and 
canons  of  Christian  councils  in  the  sixth,  seventh 
and  eighth  centuries  against  Druidism,  and  in  the 
day  of  King  Canute,  the  Dane,  a  law  was  made 
against  the  worship  of  the  sun  and  moon,  mountains, 
lakes,  trees  and  rivers. 


132  Destruction  of  tbe  H>rutos. 

It  is  possible  to  discover  many  vestiges  of  the 
Druids  and  their  religion  in  our  times,  and  many 
peculiar  analogies  between  their  superstitions  and 
those  of  other  nations  and  of  other  priests. 

Having  related  how  this  order  of  Priests  emanated 
from  the  Patriarchs;  how  they  received  their  idol- 
atrous and  ceremonial  usuages  from  the  Phoenicians; 
how  they  obtained  a  supreme  power  in  those  two 
countries  which  ere  now  have  struggled  for  the 
possession  of  the  world;  how  they  were  attacked  and 
annihilated  by  the  Roman  soldiers,  I  shall  leap  over 
a  chasm  of  centuries,  and  trace  their  faint  footsteps 
in  our  homes,  in  our  churches  and  in  our  household 
words. 


BOOK    THE    FIFTH. 


VESTIGES    OF    DRUIDISM. 


I. 

IN  THE  CEREMONIES   OF   THE   CHURCH 
OF  ROME. 

THERE  is  no  religion  so  pure  and  simple,  and 
yet  so  mystic  and  divine  as  the  religion  of  the 
Christians.  What  need  is  there  of  arguments  to 
prove  that  it  is  derived  from  heaven,  for  what  mortal 
mind  could  have  conceived  so  grand  and  touching 
a  principle,  as  that  of  a  God  who  filled  with  love  and 
pity  could  descend  from  His  throne  of  bliss  and 
honor  to  save  from  destruction  this  one  poor  star, 
this  one  faint  mote  in  the  vastness  of  His  firmament. 

To  twelve  men  the  dear  Jesus  left  his  precepts 
and  commands.  From  the  children  of  these  men 
and  of  their  disciples  sprang  a  noble  flock  who,  like 
their  great  Master,  suffered  harsh  words  and  cruel 
torments,  and  death  itself  in  a  holy  cause. 

When  God  rewarded  them  by  shedding  peace 
upon  the  church  from  without,  dissensions  from 
within  played  Satan's  work  with  her  chastity  and  her 
love.  Swords  were  then  drawn  for  the  first  time  by 
Christians  against  each  other — swords  which  never 

135 


136      Ceremonies  ot  tbe  Cburcb  ot  Home. 

thence  till  now  have  been  for  a  moment  sheathed. 
The  Christian  religion  is  divided  into  three  estab- 
lished churches,  the  Church  of  Rome,  the  Church  of 
Greece,  and  the  Church  of  England.  Besides  these, 
there  are  sects  whose  origins  have  been  abuse  upon 
the  one  hand,  and  ambition  upon  the  other  hand,  and 
whose  very  titles  it  would  occupy  pages  to  enumerate. 

Between  the  vulgar  members  of  these  three 
churches  burns  a  heathenish  and  diabolical  hatred. 
Its  root  is  jealousy.  Each  church  affects  to  be  the 
only  ladder  to  heaven,  and  damns  all  such  souls  as 
refuse  to  ascend  by  them. 

They  are  barbarians  and  place  themselves  in  the 
same  scale  with  the  tribe  of  the  Cherokee  Indians, 
who  firmly  believe  that  the  Black  Hawks  will  not  be 
admitted  to  the  pleasures  of  the  happy  hunting 
grounds  because  they  are  not  Cherokees. 

Between  the  doctrines  and  ceremonies  of  the  Greek 
and  Romish  Churches,  there  are  but  a  few  delicate 
and  unimportant  distinctions.  Yet  the  Patriarch  of 
the  Church,  every  Holy  Thursday,  solemnly  excom- 
municates the  Pope  and  all  his  followers. 

The  Church  of  England,  and  the  Church  of  Rome 
worship  the  same  Christ.  Between  these  two 
churches,  as  between  two  armies,  is  waged  a  scan- 
dalous, vituperative  war,  and  each  fresh  convert  is  a 
battle  won. 


Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  1Rome.      137 

The  Romish  Church  was  sullied  by  many  abuses, 
which  authorized  a  schism  and  a  separation  among 
its  members.  Since  many  of  those  plague-spots  still 
remain,  it  is  right  that  this  separation  should  continue. 

But  a  dark  and  dangerous  heresy  has  long  been 
creeping  silently  into  the  heart  of  our  religion,  and 
converting  its  ministers  into  false  vipers  who, 
warmed  and  cherished  by  the  bosom  of  this  gentle 
church,  use  their  increasing  strength  in  darting  black 
poison  through  all  her  veins. 

They  wish  to  transmit  to  our  church  those  papist 
emblems  and  imagery,  those  ceremonies  and  customs 
which  are  harmless  in  themselves,  but  which  by 
nourishing  superstition  elevate  the  dangerous  power 
of  the  priests. 

We  can  at  present  be  proud  of  our  priesthood. 
They  constitute  a  body  of  pious,  honorable,  hard- 
working men.  It  is  because  they  can  exercise  no 
undue  power.  Give  them  supreme  power,  and  they 
will  be  Neros  who  will  fasten  us  with  iron  chains, 
and  murder  us  if  we  disobey  them. 

The  priesthood  of  the  Druids  stands  almost  alone 
in  the  history  of  the  past.  It  was  directed  by  men, 
with  minds  elevated  by  philosophy  and  learned  in 
the  human  heart.  But  read  the  religious  history  of 
other  nations,  and  you  will  discover  how  frightfully 
the  power  of  the  priests  has  been  abused. 


138      Ceremonies  ot  tbe  Cburcb  ot  1Rome. 

The  priests  invented  a  thousand  Gods;  the  priests 
told  a  thousand  lies;  the  priests  instituted  a  thousand 
absurd  and  horrible  customs.  Who  first  taught 
nations  to  be  idolaters,  to  be  murderers  but  the 
priests.  Who  instituted  the  festival  of  the  Jugger- 
naut, the  Inquisition,  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew, but  the  priests. 

Calvin,  a  priest  of  the  Reformation,  ordered  his 
victims  to  be  burnt  with  green  wood — a  truly  Chris- 
tian refinement  of  cruelty ! 

Aaron,  a  priest,  manufactured  a  golden  calf  and 
taught  the  Jews  to  insult  their  God.  And  it  was 
Caiaphas,  a  high  priest,  who  committed  that  murder 
of  which  the  more  virtuous  heathen  Pilate  washed 
his  hands. 

Look  everywhere,  look  everywhere,  and  you  will 
see  the  priests  reeking  with  gore.  They  have  con- 
verted popular  and  happy  nations  into  deserts,  and 
have  made  our  beautiful  world  into  a  slaughter  house 
drenched  with  blood  and  tears. 

Englishmen !  they  are  planting  images,  they  are 
performing  ceremonies  in  your  houses  of  worship 
which  you  find  it  impossible  to  understand.  They 
are  hidden  from  your  eyes  by  a  dark  veil;  it  is  the 
veil  of  a  Pagan  goddess;  it  is  the  veil  of  Isis. 

I  would  not  raise  this  veil,  and  disclose  the  heathen 
origin  of  emblems  and  ceremonies  which  so  many 


Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  IRome.      139 

sanctify  and  revere,  were  it  not  to  answer  some  good 
purpose. 

I  write  then  in  the  hope  that  the  church  may  be 
preserved  in  its  simplicity — and  its  priesthood  in 
that  honor  and  integrity  which  now,  as  a  body,  they 
possess  to  an  extent  unequalled  in  any  instance  that 
the  priest-histoiy  of  the  past  or  the  present  can  afford. 
It  is  indeed  seldom  that  an  English  clergyman  be- 
comes a  wolf  clothed  in  lamb-skin,  and  preys  upon 
his  flock  under  words  and  looks  of  religion. 

But  we  know  that  power  presents  temptations, 
which  minds  fortified  only  by  three  years  education 
at  a  college  are  often  unable  to  resist. 

Before  letters  were  invented,  symbols  were  nec- 
essary to  form  a  language;  and  it  is  still  an  argument 
of  the  Greek  and  Romish  Churches  that  pictures  and 
images  are  the  books  of  those  who  cannot  read. 

They  say  also  that  since  man  is  not  a  disembodied 
spirit  like  the  angels,  it  is  also  impossible  that  he 
can  worship  the  Deity  with  his  heart  alone.  And  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  dim  and  shadowy  lights,  sweet 
perfumes,  majestic  processions  and  strains  of  music 
will  elevate  the  soul  towards  God  and  prepare  the 
mind  to  receive  heavenly  and  sublime  impressions. 

Without  objecting  to  the  use  of  such  aids  to  de- 
votion, I  wish   to  guard  people  from  attaching  a 


140      Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  IRome. 

peculiar  sanctity  to  the  bare  aids  in  themselves, 
which  is  nothing  less  than  idolatry.  This  I  can  best 
prevent  by  showing  them  how  they  first  came  into 
a  Christian  Church.  And  in  doing  so,  I  shall  depart 
little  from  the  original  design  of  this  chapter  which 
is  to  investigate  the  vestiges  of  Druidism  in  the 
ceremonies  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Religion. 

Not  only  the  ceremonies,  but  also  the  officers  and 
many  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  Rome  may 
be  traced  to  heathen  sources. 

The  Pope  of  Rome  exactly  resembles  the  Secular 
High-Priest  of  ancient  Rome,  and  in  Latin  his  title 
is  the  same — Pontifex  Maximus.  The  office  was 
probably  an  imitation  of  that  of  the  Arch- Druid,  who, 
as  I  have  described,  had  supreme  power  over  secular 
as  well  as  ecclesiastical  affairs,  and  who  was  sur- 
rounded by  a  Senate  of  the  Chief  Druids,  as  the 
Pontifex  Maximus  was  by  Flamines,  and  the  Pope 
by  Cardinals. 

The  distinguishing  sign  of  the  fiamen  was  a  hat; 
and  "  the  cardinal's  hat"  is  a  European  proverb. 

The  Arch-Druid  held  his  foot  to  be  kissed  on 
certain  occasions  by  the  common  people.  Julius 
Caesar  who  had  observed  this  custom,  on  being  made 
Pontifex  Maximus,  compelled  Pompey  to  do  the 
same;  in  this  he  was  followed  by  Caligula  and  Helio- 
gabalus,  whom  the  Pope  also  has  wisely  imitated. 


Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  IRome.      141 

The  tonsure  of  the  Romish  priests  is  the  same  as 
that  of  the  priests  of  Isis  whose  heads  were  shaved, 
a  practice  forbidden  by  God:  (Levit.  xx.  I.  Ezek. 
xliv.  20). 

Their  celibacy  is  also  heathenish.  Origen  when 
emasculated  himself,  only  imitated  the  Hierophantes 
of  Athens  who  drank  an  infusion  of  hemlock  to 
render  themselves  impotent.  St.  Francis  who,  when 
tempted  with  carnality,  would  throw  himself  naked 
on  the  snow  making  balls  which  he  applied  to  his 
body  calling  them  his  maid  and  his  wife,  did  but 
copy  Diogenes  who  lived  in  a  tub — a  cloak,  his 
covering — a  wallet,  his  kitchen — the  palm  of  his 
hand,  his  bottle  and  cup;  who  in  the  searching  heat 
of  summer  would  lie  naked  on  the  hot  gravel,  and 
in  the  harshest  frost  would  embrace  stone  statues 
covered  with  snow. 

Plato,  Pythagoras,  Heraclitus,  Democritus  and 
Zeno,  the  prince  of  Stoics,  imposed  celibacy  upon 
their  disciples.  The  priests  of  Cybele,  the  Mega- 
byzes  of  Ephesus  and  the  priests  of  Egypt  maintained 
the  vow  of  chastity.  Eneas  (sEneid  libvi.)  in  pass- 
ing through  the  infernal  regions  saw  no  priests  there 
but  such  as  had  passed  their  lives  in  celibacy. 

It  need  not  be  proved  that  there  were  many  her- 
mits and  orders  of  monks  among  the  heathen.  Even 
the  begging  friars  of  the  Romish  church  are  not 


142       Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  1Rome. 

original.  There  was  a  tribe  of  lazy  mendicant  priests 
among  the  heathens,  against  whom  Cicero  wrote  in 
his  Book  of  Laws,  who  used  to  travel  from  house  to 
house  with  sacks  on  their  backs,  and  which  were 
gradually  filled  with  eatables  by  the  superstition  of 
their  hosts. 

Pythagoras  established  an  order  of  nuns  over 
whom  he  placed  his  daughter.  The  Roman  vestals 
were  nuns  who  took  a  vow  of  chastity,  and  who, 
like  Christian  nuns  that  we  have  heard  of,  were 
punished  with  death  if  they  disgraced  it. 

There  was  a  sisterhood  of  Druidesses  at  Kildare 
in  Ireland,  whose  office  it  was,  like  the  Roman  Vest- 
als, to  preserve  a  holy  fire  ever  burning.  They 
devoted  themselves  to  the  service  of  Brighit,  the 
Goddess  of  Poetry,  of  Physics,  and  of  Smiths,  and 
who  is  spoken  of  in  the  old  Irish  MSS.asthe  Presiditig 
Care.  When  Druidism  was  abolished,  these  priest- 
esses became  Christian  nuns,  and  Brighit  became 
St.  Bridget,  the  tutelary  saint  of  Ireland.  The  fire 
was  still  preserved  in  honor  of  this  Christian  saint, 
and  though  extinguished  once  by  the  Archbishop  of 
London,  was  relighted  and  only  finally  extinguished 
at  the  suppression  of  the  monasteries  in  the  reign  of 
King  Henry  the  Eighth. 

The  dress  and  ornaments  of  the  Romish  priest  are 
borrowed  from  the  heathens.    The  Phoenician  priests 


Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  TRome.       143 

wore  surplices.  Lambskin  was  worn  by  the  Persian 
priests.  The  pelt,  which  the  canons  wear  with  the 
fur  outward,  is  a  memorial  of  the  custom  of  the  early 
heathens,  who  having  killed  the  beasts  for  sacrifice, 
flayed  them  and  taking  the  skins  put  them  over  their 
head  with  the  fur  outwards.  On  the  saccos,  or  epis- 
copal garment  of  the  Russian  bishops  are  suspended 
small  silver  bells,  which  were  also  worn  on  the  robes 
of  the  priests  of  Persia  and  of  the  High-Priest  of  the 
Jews. 

The  crosier,  or  pastoral  staff  of  the  Pope  was  also 
used  by  the  Druids,  and  answers  to  the  lituus  of  the 
Roman  augurs  and  the  hieralpha  of  the  Hindoos. 

The  Arch-Druid  wore  bands  precisely  resembling 
those  which  the  Romish  and  English  clergy  wear 
now,  and  which  a  short  time  ago  the  students  of  our 
universities  were  compelled  to  wear  in  their  public 
examinations. 

Votive  offerings  and  pilgrimages  are  known  by 
all  to  be  of  Pagan  extraction. 

The  fasts,  penances  and  self-tortures  of  the  Romish 
priests  find  a  parallel  among  the  Yogees  or  Gymno- 
sophists  of  India,  who  wandered  about  the  world 
naked  as  they  had  been  born,  sometimes  standing 
on  one  leg  on  the  burning  sands — passing  weeks 
without  nourishment,  years  without  repose — exposed 
to  the  sun,  to  the  rain,  to  the  wind — standing  with 


144      Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  1Rome. 

their  arms  crossed  above  their  heads  till  the  sinews 
shrank  and  their  flesh  withered  away — fixing  their 
eyes  upon  the  burning  sun  till  their  moisture  was 
seared  and  their  light  extinguished. 

When  a  Brahmin  became  a  grandfather  he  gave 
up  the  management  of  his  affairs  to  his  son,  and 
quitted  the  city  for  the  desert,  the  company  of  men 
for  eternal  solitude.  He  dressed  in  the  bark  of 
trees;  he  was  not  permitted  to  wear  linen  nor  to  cut 
his  nails.  He  bathed  nine  times  a  day;  he  read  and 
meditated  ever  on  the  Holy  Vedas.  At  night  alone 
he  slept,  and  then  on  the  bare  ground.  In  the  sum- 
mer months  he  sat  in  the  full  blaze  of  the  sun,  sur- 
rounded by  four  fires;  in  the  four  months  of  rain,  he 
dwelt  in  a  stage  raised  above  the  water  by  four  poles 
but  unroofed;  during  the  four  winter  months  he  sat 
all  night  in  the  cold  water. 

And  always  performing  the  fast  of  Chanderayan. 

Soon  his  spirits  would  sink,  and  tired  of  life  he 
was  allowed  to  commit  suicide,  which  was  considered 
the  sure  passport  to  heaven.  Some  burn  themselves, 
some  drowned  themselves,  some  flung  themselves 
from  precipices,  and  some  walked,  walked,  walked 
till  they  dropped  down  dead. 

The  fast  of  Chanderayan  consisted  in  eating  one 
mouthful  a  day,  and  increasing  a  mouthful  every  day 
for  a  month,  and  then  decreasing  a  mouthful  every 


Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  ot  iRome.       145 

day  for  the  same  length  of  time.  A  tribe  of  the 
Egyptian  priests  fasted  perpetually,  abstaining  from 
eggs  which  they  considered  liquid  meat,  and  from 
milk  which  they  esteemed  a  kind  of  blood. 

The  members  of  the  Greek  Church  are  more 
scrupulous  than  those  of  Rome,  for  they  will  not  eat 
eggs  or  fish  when  fasting. 

The  religious  rites  of  the  Romish  Church  are 
closely  assimilated  to  those  of  the  heathens. 

In  the  Dibaradaney  or  offering-of-fire,  the  officia- 
ting Brahmin  always  rang  a  small  bell.  Also  the 
women-of-the-idol,  the  dancing  girls  of  the  Indian 
pagodas  had  golden  bells  attached  to  their  feet. 

The  wax  tapers  which  are  constantly  kept  burning 
in  Roman  Catholic  churches  remind  us  of  the  practice 
of  most  of  the  ancient  nations  who  preserved  fires 
continually  burning  in  their  temples;  for  instance  in 
the  pagodas  of  the  Brahmins;  in  the  sanctuaries  of 
Jupiter  Ammon;  in  the  Druidic  temple  at  Kildare; 
in  the  Capitol  at  Rome;  and  in  the  temple  of  the 
Gaditanian  Hercules  at  Tyre. 

The  Egyptians  used  lamps  in  the  celebration  of 
their  religious  services.  They  had  one  festival  which 
they  called  The  Feast  of  Lamps,  which  they  used  to 
celebrate  by  sailing  down  the  Nile  to  the  temple  of 
Isis  at  Sais  by  torchlight.  Those  who  were  unable 
to  attend,  lighted  the  lamps,  which  were  small  cups 


146       Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  TRome. 

filled  with  salt  and  oil,  and  a  lighted  wick  floated 
within. 

It  is  curious  that  this  Pagan  observance  should 
be  still  preserved  by  the  Papists.  A  few  years  ago 
I  was  in  the  house  of  a  Roman  Catholic  at  vesper 
time.  "  I  cannot  attend  vespers  to-day,"  he  said, 
"so  I  do  this."  And  he  fetched  a  glass  saucer  which 
was  filled  with  oil,  and  lighted  a  wick  wh::h  was 
floating  in  the  midst.  After  some  few  minutes  the 
light  died  out,  "  Now,"  said  he,  "  vespers  are  over." 

The  Persians  used  a  kind  of  holy  water  which  was 
named  zor.  But  it  is  needless  to  produce  such  in- 
stances. Water,  as  a  principle  of  generation,  and 
as  one  of  the  four  elements  was  revered  by  all 
heathendom.  The  very  aspersoire  or  sacred  water- 
pot  which  the  ancient  Romans  used  for  their  temple, 
may  be  found  among  the  implements  of  their  suc- 
cessors. 

Their  turnings  and  genuflexions  are  copied  from 
the  deisuls  of  the  Druids.  The  Druidic  religious 
dances  which  were  performed  in  a  circle,  in  imitation 
of  the  revolution  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  are  pre- 
served to  posterity  by  the  cardinals  who  advance  to 
the  Pope  in  a  circle,  by  the  Turkish  dervishes,  and 
by  the  French  and  English  peasantry  in  various 
rural  dances. 

The  heathens  were  not  without  their  liturgies. 


Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  1Rome.      147 

The  Persians  used  a  long  form  of  prayer  for  the 
ceremony  of  marriage,  and  the  use  of  the  ring  on  the 
third  finger  of  the  left  hand  was  known  to  all  the 
ancients  as  Tertullian  himself  admits.  In  the  Greek 
Church  of  Russia  the  couple  are  crowned  with  gar- 
lands which  are  removed  on  the  eighth  day.  This,  an 
ancient  Roman  observance,  is  not  a  traditional  super- 
stition of  the  Russians,  but  a  ceremony  authorized 
by  their  religion,  and  a  service  in  their  liturgy.  The 
veil  which  our  brides  wear  is  also  a  remnant  of 
ancient  Rome. 

Dudum  sedet  ilia  parato 


Flammeolo.— Juv.  Sat.  X. 

As  is  also  the  superstition  among  Papist  that  it  is 
unlucky  to  marry  in  the  month  of  May.  Ovid 
records  it  in  a  distich. 

Nee  viduae  tcedis  eadem  nee  virginis  apta 
Tempora.     Quae  nupsit  non  diuturna  fuit. 
Hac  quoque  de  caussl  si  te  proverbia  tangunt 
Mense  malas  Maio  nubere  vulgus  ait. 

Our  funeral  practice  of  throwing  three  handfuls 
of  earth  on  the  coffin,  and  saying  :  earth  to  earth, 
ashes  to  ashes,  dust  to  dust,  was  in  use  among  the 
ancient  Egyptians,  and  our  mutes  resemble  the  hired 
mourners  of  all  the  ancient  nations. 

The  Vedas  are  full  of  exorcisms  against  those  evil 
spirits  which,  as  the  Hindoos  supposed,  crowded 
about  the  sacrifice  and  impeded  the  religious  rites. 


148       Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  IRome. 

There  are  forms  of  exorcism  used  by  Romish  priests, 
and  in  the  first  liturgy  of  Edward  VI,  there  was  a 
form  of  exorcism  in  the  baptismal  service  which  since 
has  been  erased. 

The  Romans  used  to  consecrate  their  temples, 
when  first  built,  with  prayers  and  sacrifices,  and 
sprinklings  of  holy  water. 

The  mass  is  acknowledged  by  the  Catholic  priests 
to  be  a  sacrificial  service,  and  the  host  made  of 
wheat  flour  is  an  exact  imitation  of  the  consecrated 
cakes  which  were  used  by  the  heathens. 

The  ancient  Persians  carried  their  infants  to  the 
temple  a  few  days  after  they  were  born,  and  pre- 
sented them  to  the  priest  who  stood  before  the  holy 
fire  in  the  presence  of  the  burning  sun.  He  took  the 
child  and  plunged  it  into  a  vase  full  of  water  for  the 
purification  of  its  soul.  After  which  it  was  anointed, 
received  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  was  fed  with  milk 
and  honey. 

Such  is  the  origin  of  infant  baptism,  of  the  font, 
and  of  the  ceremony  of  signing  the  forehead  with 
the  figure  of  the  cross — none  of  which  are  derived 
from  God  or  from  His  Holy  Scriptures. 

When  the  child  had  arrived  at  the  age  of  fifteen 
years,  the  priest  invested  him  with  the  robe  called 
Sudra  and  with  the  girdle,  and  initiated  him  into 
the  mysteries  of  their  religion. 


Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  1Rome.      149 

This  is  plainly  the  same  as  the  Christian  confirm- 
ation, before  which  the  church  does  not  permit  us 
to  receive  the  sacrament. 

We  first  hear  of  the  sacramental  offering  of  bread 
and  wine  as  used  by  Melchisedek.  I  have  described 
it  among  the  ceremonies  of  Druidism.  Among  the 
Hebrews  it  was  called  gum  whence  our  word  "  com- 
munion." 

I  have  now  to  consider  the  great  symbol  of  the 
Christian  religion — the  cross.  Were  it  regarded  as 
a  mere  emblem  of  our  Lord's  suffering  I  should  be 
silent  upon  the  matter;  but  since  it  is  an  object  of 
actual  idolatry  in  the  Roman  Catholic  church,  and 
threatens  to  become  the  same  in  our  own,  I  must 
endeavor  to  correct  the  abuse  by  exposing  its  Pagan 
origin. 

This  cross  which  the  Roman  Catholics  worship  on 

Good  Friday  by  taking  off  their  shoes  and  approach- 
ing it  on  their  knees,  and  reverently  kissing  it,  was 
once  as  common  a  symbol  among  Pagans  as  the 
circle,  the  serpent  or  the  bull. 

In  Ezekiel,  IX.  4 — 6,  we  read  that  God  directed 
the  six  destroyers  to  kill  all  whom  they  found  in  the 
city  of  Jerusalem,  except  those  on  whose  forehead 
the  Taw  was  inscribed.  This  letter  Taw  is  the  last 
in  the  Hebrew  alphabet,  and  according  to  its  ancient 
method  of  writing,  exactly  resembles  a  cross,  as  St. 
Jerome  remarked  1400  years  ago. 


150       Ceremonies  ot  tbe  Cbuvcb  ot  IRome. 

The  crux  ansata  of  the  Egyptians,  according  to 
Ruffmus  and  Sozomen,  was  hieroglyphic,  and  im- 
parted the  time  that  was  to  come. 

The  j\  was  a  phallic  emblem  in  Egypt.    Thereby 

also  the  Syrians  and  Phoenicians  represented  the 
planet  Venus.  On  some  of  the  early  coins  of  the 
latter  nation,  we  find  the  cross  attached  to  a  chaplet 
ot  beads  placed  in  a  circle  so  as  to  form  a  rosary, 
such  as  the  Lamas  of  Thibet  and  China,  the  Hindoos 
and  the  Roman  Catholics  now  tell  over  as  diey  pray. 

On  a  Phoenician  medal  discovered  by  Dr.  Clarke 
in  the  ruins  of  Citium,  are  inscribed  the  cross,  the 
rosary  and  the  lamb. 

j>  -p    r  were  the  monograms  of  Osiris,  Venus 

S*\*     I       and  Jupiter  Ammon. 

-f  of  the  Scandinavian  Teutates  or  Tuisco. 
The  Vaishnavas  of  India  mark  one  of  their  idols 
with  crosses,  thus  ^\  and  with  triangles  ^^ 

ZU       On  the  Egyptian  monuments  in  the 
British  Museum  may  be  ^een  the  mys- 
tic cross  in   great  numbers  of  places, 
and    upon    the    breast   of  one  of  the 
("         ")      mummies  in  the  Museum  of  the  Lon- 
^_J      L__^    don    University  is  a  cross  exactly   in 
this  shape. 
The   two   principal    pagodas   of  India,  those    of 
Benares  and  Mathura  are  built  in  the  form  of  a  cross. 
The  Mexican  temples  are  built  in  the  form  of  a  cross 
and  face  the  four  cardinal  points. 


Ceremonies  ot  tbe  Cburcb  ot  IRome.       151 

Crosses  have  been  discovered  on  the  Scandinavian 
"  Mark  "  stones  in  the  Scottish  Isles,  and  there  are 
many  ancient  monuments  in  Great  Britain  which,  but 
for  the  cross  engraved  upon  them,  would  be  con- 
sidered Druidical. 

That  the  Druids,  like  the  aborigines  of  America 
and  the  ancient  conjurers  of  Lapland,  revered  the 
form  of  the  cross  can  hardly  be  doubted.  Schedius 
de  Mor.  Germ,  informs  us  that  it  was  their  custom  to 
seek  studiously  for  an  oak  tree  large  and  handsome, 
growing  up  with  two  principal  arms  in  the  form  of  a 
cross  beside  the  main  stem.  If  the  two  horizontal 
arms  were  not  sufficiently  adapted  to  the  figure, 
they  fastened  a  cross  beams  to  it.  Then  they  con- 
secrated it  by  cutting  upon  the  right  branch  in  fair 
characters  the  word  Hesus,  upon  the  middle  stem, 
the  word  Taranis,  upon  the  left  branch  Belenus,  and 
over  them  the  word  Thau. 

The  tree  so  inscribed,  they  would  make  their 
Kebla  like  the  Jewish  Jerusalem,  the  Turk's  Mecca, 
and  the  Christian's  altar  to  which  they  would  direct 
their  faces  when  they  prayed. 

I  can  best  explain  the  adoration  of  this  symbol  by 
deriving  it  from  that  constellation  The  Southern  Cross, 
which  appears  only  in  tropical  skies  and  which  per- 
haps the  heathens,  attracted  by  its  beauty,  learned 
to  worship,  as  they  worshipped  the  sun  for  its  God- 


152       Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  iRome. 

like  grandeur,  and  the  moon  for  its  beneficent  light. 
The  idolatry  of  the  Roman  Catholics  is  not  con- 
fined to  emblems.  They  have  deified  martyrs  and 
other  holy  men,  and  render  them  a  worship  that  is 
only  due  to  God. 

It  is  true  that  they  draw  a  distinction  between  the 
adoration  which  they  pay  to  God,  and  the  homage 
which  they  pay  to  Saints,  calling  the  one  in  the 
language  of  the  schools  Latvia,  from  ya^na  the  wor- 
ship due  to  God  only,  and  the  latter  Dulia,  from 
doviua  an  inferior  kind  of  worship.  But  this  dis- 
tinction is  too  delicate  for  the  illiterate  to  under- 
stand. 

A  plurality  of  Gods  I  have  shown  to  be  one  of  the 
abuses  of  ancient  heathenism.  In  this  abuse,  they 
have  been  imitated  by  the  modern  idolaters  of  Rome, 
not  only  in  the  abstract  but  in  the  concrete:  there  is 
not  only  assimilation,  but  a  reproduction. 

The  Romans  ridiculed  the  Gods  of  Egypt  whom 
they  themselves  adored  but  under  different  names. 
They  burnt  Serapis,  Anubis,  and  Isis;  they  revered 
Pluto,  Mercury  and  Ceres. 

So  the  Roman  Catholics  while  pretendingto  abjure 
the  Gods  of  heathenism  have  actually  adopted  many 
of  them. 

The  petty  divinities  of  the  Pagans  were  deified 
men,    and  were   intercessors  with   Osiris,    Zeus    or 


Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  ot  iRome.      153 

Jupiter,  as  the  canonized  saints  of  the  Catholic  Church 
are  with  the  God  of  the  Christians. 

The  Chaldees  divided  the  year  into  twelve  months 
with  an  angel  over  each  month.  The  saints  perform 
the  same  office  in  the  Romish  Calendar,  and  in 
several  of  the  Greek  churches  there  are  twelve  pic- 
tures for  the  twelve  months  representing  the  twelve 
principal  saints. 

The  diviy  or  inferior  Gods  of  the  Romans  worked 
miracles;  altars  were  erected  in  their  honor  with 
lights  continually  burning  before  them;  their  relics 
were  worshipped;  convents  were  formed  of  religious 
men  and  women  who  took  the  name  of  divus  or 
inferior  God,  to  whom  they  devoted  themselves,  such 
as  the  Quirinals  from  Quirinus  or  Romulus;  the 
Martiales  from  Mars;  the  Vulcanates  from  Vulcan. 
So  also  the  Augustines  from  Augustine;  the  Fran- 
ciscans from  Francis;  the  Dominicans  from  Dominic. 

The  Roman  divi  were  tutelary  Gods  over  various 
vocations — as  Neptune  over  mariners — Pan  over 
shepherds — Pales  over  husbandmen — Flora  over 
courtezans — Diana  over  huntsmen.  So  the  seamen, 
among  Catholics,  pray  to  St.  Nicholas — the  shepherds 
to  St.  Windoline — the  husbandmen  to  St.  John  the 
Baptist — the  courtezans  to  St.  Magdalene — and  the 
huntsmen  to  St.  Hubert. 

The  saints  too  have  received  the  equipage  of  the 


154       Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  "IRome. 

divi.  To  St.  Wolfgang,  the  hatchet  or  hook  of 
Saturn — to  Moses,  the  horns  of  Jupiter  Ammon — to 
St.  Peter,  the  keys  of  Janus. 

In  the  same  way  as  the  Pagans  worshipped  these 
divi  but  stigmatized  them — Apollo  as  a  rake,  Mer- 
cury as  an  arrant  thief,  and  Venus  as  a  courtezan; 
there  are  things  recorded  by  pious  Catholics  them- 
selves of  those  Popes  which  are  infallible  and  of 
saints  which  are  said  to  be  in  heaven,  quite  as  little 
to  their  credit. 

Minutius  Felix  jeers  the  Pagans  for  the  vile  drudg- 
ery they  have  put  upon  their  Gods.  "Sometimes," 
says  he,  "  Hercules  is  set  to  empty  dung;  Apollo 
turns  cow-herd  to  Ametus;  Neptune  hires  himself  to 
Laomedon  as  bricklayer  to  build  up  the  walls  of 
Trov,  and  is  cheated  out  of  his  wages." 

So  among  the  glorious  miracles  of  the  Holy  Vir- 
gin, we  find  that  she  descends  from  heaven  to  bleed 
a  young  man  in  the  arm;  to  take  the  place  of  a 
naughty  abbess  who  has  eloped  with  a  monk;  to 
mend  the  gown  of  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury  who 
had  torn  it  on  a  nail,  and  to  wipe  the  sweat  off  the 
faces  of  the  monks  of  Chevraux  whilst  they  were  at 
work. 

But  as  I  have  said  before,  there  has  been  some- 
thing more  than  imitation.  There  has  been  adoption. 
The  Roman  Catholics  have  canonized  several  of  the 


Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  IRome.       155 

Pagan  gods.  Bacchus,  the  God  of  topers,  has  be- 
come St.  Baccus,  a  worshipful  saint  of  the  perennial 
calendar;  and  Brighit,  the  Goddess  of  the  Druids, 
St.  Bridget,  a  patron  saint  of  Ireland. 

The  most  distinguishing  feature  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion  is  the  idolatrous  worship  of  the 
Virgin  Mary.  It  is  idolatrous,  for  to  this  woman 
whom  it  is  palpable  from  Scripture  that  Christ  treated 
as  a  being  inferior  to  himself,  are  rendered  prayers 
and  honors  as  numerous  and  high  as  those  which 
are  rendered  to  Him,  and  in  all  instances  they  are 
placed  upon  a  level  with  each  other. 

They  have  made  her  immaculate,  although  she 
was  the  wife  of  a  carpenter,  and  although  the 
brethren  of  Jesus  are  more  than  once  mentioned  in 
the  gospels. 

And  as  there  was  no  mention  made  in  Scripture 
of  her  death,  they  inferred  that,  like  Enoch  and 
Elijah  and  her  Holy  Son,  she  had  been  taken  up 
into  Heaven.  Upon  this  bare  conjecture,  the  doc- 
trine was  assiduously  inculcated  into  the  minds  of 
the  ignorant,  and  a  service  was  introduced  into  the 
liturgy  called  *•'  The  Assumption  of  the  Virgin 
Mary." 

Bonaventura  who  was  canonized  a  saint,  and  who 
is  spoken  of  by  his  brother-catholics  as  the  Seraphic 
Doctor,  wrote  a  book  called  "  The  Imitation  of  the 


156      Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  IRome. 

Virgin  Mary,"  after  St.  Thomas-a-Kempis'  well- 
known  work,  in  which  he  exhorts  all  faithful  catholics 
to  pray  to  the  Virgin  Mary  by  whose  intercession 
their  souls  may  be  saved. 

In  the  Psalter  which  St.  Bonaventura  edited,  he 
changes  in  each  of  the  1 50  Psalms  the  word  Lord  or 
God,  for  that  of  Lady  or  Mary,  interspersing  in  some 
much  of  his  own  composition,  and  adding  the  Gloria 
Patri  to  each. 

For  instance  in  the  148th  Psalm — (page  491  of  the 
Psalter). 

"  Praise  our  Lady  of  Heaven,  glorify  her  in  the 
highest.  Praise  her  all  ye  men  and  cattle,  ye  birds 
of  the  heaven  and  fishes  of  the  sea.  Praise  her  sun 
and  moon,  ye  stars  and  circles  of  the  planets.  Praise 
her  Cherubin  and  Seraphin,  thrones  and  dominions 
and  powers.  Praise  her  all  ye  legions  of  angels. 
Praise  her  all  ye  orders  of  spirits  on  high. 

"  Let  everything  that  hath  breath  praise  our 
Lady." 

Theophilus  Raynaud,  a  Jesuit  of  Lyons,  in  his  work 
entitled  Diptycha  Mariana  thus  writes: — 

"The  torrents  of  Heaven  and  the  fountains  of  the 
great  deep,  I  would  rather  open  than  close  in  homage 
of  the  Virgin.  And  if  her  son  Jesus  has  omitted 
anything  as  to  the  pre-eminence  of  the  exaltation  of  his 
r>wn  mother,  I  a  servant,  I  a  slave,  not  indeed  with 


Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  IRome.      157 

effect,  but  with  affection  would  delight  in  filling 
it  up." 

Again: — ■ 

"In  like  manner  are  her  feet  to  be  blessed  with 
which  she  carried  the  Lord,  the  womb  in  which  she 
carried  him,  the  heart  whence  she  courageously  be- 
lieved in  him  and  fervently  loved  him,  the  breasts 
with  which  she  gave  him  suck,  the  hands  with  which 
she  nourished  him,  the  mouth  and  tongue  with  which 
she  gave  to  him  the  happy  kisses  of  our  redemption, 
the  nostrils  with  which  she  smelled  the  sweet-smell- 
ing fragrance  of  his  humanity,  the  ears  with  which 
she  listened  with  delight  to  his  eloquence,  the  eyes 
with  which  she  devoutly  looked  upon  him,  the  body 
and  soul  which  Christ  consecrated  in  her  with  every 
benediction.  And  these  most  sacred  members  must 
be  saluted  and  blessed  wilh  all  devotion,  so  that 
separate  salutations  must  be  addressed  to  the  several 
members  separately,  namely,  Hail  Mary  /  two  to 
the  feet,  one  to  the  womb,  one  to  the  heart,  two  to 
the  breasts,  two  to  the  hands,  two  to  the  mouth  and 
tongue,  two  to  the  lips,  two  to  the  nostrils,  two  to 
the  ears,  two  to  the  eyes,  two  to  the  soul  and  body. 
And  thus  in  all  there  are  twenty  salutations  which 
after  the  manner  of  a  daily  payment  with  separate 
and  an  equal  number  of  kneelings,  if  it  can  be  done 
before  her  image  or  altar,  are  to  be  paid  to  the 


i5»       Ceremonies  ot  tbe  Gburcb  ot  1Rome. 

glorious  Virgin  according  to  that  psalm,  (144). 
Every  day  will  I  give  thanks  unto  thee  and  praise 
THY  name  for  ever  and  ever." 

In  the  following  extract  from  a  little  work  pub- 
lished at  Dublin,  1836,  and  entitled  "  The  Little 
Testament  of  the  Holy  Virgin"  God  and  the  Virgin 
are  placed  upon  an   equality. 

"  Mary!  sacred  name  under  which  no  one  should 
despair.  Mary!  sacred  name  often  assaulted  but 
always  victorious.  Mary !  it  shall  be  my  life,  my 
strength,  my  comfort.  Every  day  shall  I  invoke  it 
and  the  divine  name  of  Jesus.  The  Son  shall  awake 
the  recollection  of  the  mother,  and  the  mother  that 
of  the  son.  yesus  and  Mary  !  this  is  what  my  heart 
shall  say  at  my  last  hour  if  my  tongue  cannot.  I 
shall  hear  them  on  my  death-bed,  they  shall  be 
wafted  on  my  expiring  breath,  and  I  with  them  to  see 
them,  know  them,  bless  and  love  them  for  eternity. 
Amen." 

But  she  is  sometimes  made  even  greater  than 
God. 

"  My  soul,"  says  the  blessed  Eric  Suzon,  is  in  the 
hands  of  Mary,  so  that  if  the  Judge  wishes  to  con- 
demn me,  the  sentence  must  pass  through  this 
clement  Queen,  and  she  knows  how  to  prevent  its 
execution." 

It  even   became  a  custom  at  one  time  in  their 


Ceremonies  of  tfoe  Gburcfo  of  iRome.      159 

church  to  date  the  Christian  era  not  from  the  birth 
of  the  Christ,  but  from  the  virgin  mother  of  God. 
See  Emanuel  Acosta's  Acts  of  the  Jesuits  in  the 
East.  D  ilingse.  1 5  7 1 .  Ad  annum  usque  a  Deipara 
Virgine,  1568. 

The  question  now  naturally  arises,  why  does  the 
Virgin  Mary  receive  this  worship  and  these  honors 
which  are  only  due  to  God. 

You  will  be  surprised  when  I  tell  you  that  this 
also  is  a  remnant  of  heathenism. 

In  all  nations,  long  before  the  Christian  era,  a  fe- 
male with  a  child  in  her  arms  had  been  worshipped. 
Among  the  Egyptians  it  was  Isis,  among  the  Etrus- 
cans it  was  Venus,  among  the  Phrygians  it  was 
Atys. 

In  fact  as  Isis  was  the  original  of  the  Proserpine, 
the  Venus,  the  Diana,  the  Juno,  the  Maia  and  the 
Cere  of  ancient  Rome,  so  she  was  the  original  of  the 
Virgin  Mary  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

In  Montfaucon  we  find  several  plates  of  Isis  giving 
suck  to  the  boy  Horus. 

In  the  year  1747,  a  Mithraic  monument  was  found 
at  Oxford — a  female  nursing  an  infant — which  Dr. 
Stukeley  proved  to  be  a  representation  of  the  God- 
dess of  the  Year  nursing  the  God  Day. 

It  is  indeed  not  improbable  that  Oxford  with  its 
seven  hills,  its  river  Isis,  and  the  bull  in  its  coat  01 


160      Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  IRome* 

arms  had  been  established  by  priests  who,  like  the 
Druids,  were  acquainted  with  Egyptian  lore. 

An  ancient  Etruscan  monument  was  discovered  at 
Rome,  the  precise  model  of  those  pictures  of  the 
Madonna  and  her  child  so  common  in  Italy  and 
throughout  the  world. 

In  many  churches  on  the  continent,  the  Virgin 
Mary  is  represented  with  a  lily  or  lotus  in  her  hand. 
This  plant  was  sacred  to  Isis  and  was  held  in  rever- 
ence by  the  priests  of  Egypt  and  of  India. 

Isis  was  the  wife  of  Osiris,  as  the  moon  was  called 
the  wife  of  the  sun. 

In  the  hymn  of  the  Assumption,  the  Virgin  is 
entreated  "to  calm  the  rage  of  her  heavenly  hus- 
band." 

The  month  of  May  was  sacred  to  Isis. 

It  is  called  by  the  Papists  "  Marys  month." 

Venus,  the  Isis  of  the  Romans,  was  born  from  the 
foam  of  the  sea. 

In  the  form  of  prayer  called  Litanice  Lauritance, 
there  are  more  than  forty  addresses  to  the  Virgin, 
invoking  her  as  the  star  of  the  sea,  as  the  mystical 
rose,  and  by  a  variety  of  other  heathen  epithets. 

In  another  prayer  she  is  named  arnica  stella, 
naufragis,  and  in  Sanval's  Historie  des  Antiquites 
de  Paris,  etoile  eclatante  de  la  mer. 

The  chief  title  of  Venus  was  Regina  Cczloium. 


Ceremonies  of  tfoe  Cburcb  of  1Rome.      161 

And  the  Holy  Virgin  is  repeatedly  invoked  in  the 
Romish  liturgy  as  the  Queen  of  Heaven. 

Finally,  on  the  25th  of  March  the  ancient  Phry- 
gians devoted  a  festival  to  the  mother  of  the  Gods, 
which  very  day  still  bears  among  Catholics  and  their 
Protestant  imitators  the  name  of  Lady's  Day. 

All  this  does  not  impeach  one  iota  or  tittle  of  the 
truth  of  Christianity.  I  do  not  say  that  the  Chris- 
tians invented  a  personage,  and  called  her  the  Virgin 
Mary.  I  merely  prove  that  the  Roman  Catholics 
pay  those  idolatrous  tributes  to  the  Virgin  Mary 
which  their  ancestors  rendered  to  Isis  in  Egypt,  or 
to  Venus  in  Rome,  and  that  they  represent  her  in 
the  same  manner. 

For  instance,  in  the  pictures  of  the  Madonna  and 
the  Child,  we  see  the  Virgin's  head  encircled  by  a 
crescent  halo  of  light,  and  the  child's  by  many  lu- 
minous rays. 

The  one  is  a  symbol  of  the  new  moon  sacred  to 
Isis,  the  latter  an  imitation  of  the  radiance  of  the  sun 
of  whom  Horus  was  the  offspring. 

The  spires  and  towers  of  our  churches  are  also 
imitated  from  the  pyramids  and  obelisks  of  antiquity. 
These  were  erected  as  emblems  of  the  sun's  beams 
which  fall  pyramidically  upon  the  earth. 

Many  of  the  heathen  festivals  are  still  celebrated 
by  Christians.     In  the  liturgy  of  the  Greek  Church 


162      Ceremonies  ot  tbe  Cbureb  of  IRome* 

there  is  a  ritual  named  "  The  Benediction  of  the 
Waters."  A  wooden  temple,  richly  gilt  and  hung 
round  with  sacred  pictures,  is  erected  upon  the  Neva 
at  St.  Petersburg  when  it  is  frozen,  and  a  procession 
is  formed  by  the  clerks,  the  deacons,  the  priests  and 
the  bishops  dressed  in  their  richest  robes,  and  bear- 
ing the  tapers  and  the  sacred  pictures,  and  the 
service  is  read  within  the  temple. 

This  is  not  unlike  "  The  Feast  of  Lamps  "  before 
described,  which  the  Egyptians  partly  celebrated  on 
the  Nile,  a  river  which  in  one  of  the  prayers  of  the 
Greek  Church  is  called  "The  Monarcn  of  the 
Floods." 

The  conception  of  the  Virgin  Mary  is  represented 
on  the  same  day  (the  2nd  of  February)  as  that  oi 
the  miraculous  conception  of  Juno  by  the  ancient 
Romans.  This,  says  the  author  of  the  Perennial 
Calendar,  is  a  remarkable  coincidence. 

It  is  also  a  remarkable  coincidence  that  the  Feast 
of  All- Saints,  which  is  celebrated  by  the  Roman 
Catholics  on  the  2nd  of  November  and  which  retains 
its  place  in  the  Protestant  calendar,  should  have  been 
on  the  same  day  as  the  Fcstum  dei  Mortis  of  the 
Romans,  and  should  still  be  annually  kept  by  the 
Buddhists  of  Thibet,  and  by  the  natives  of  South 
America  and  as  a  Druidic  custom  by  the  rustic 
classes  of  Ireland. 


Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  mome.       163 

It  is  also  a  remarkable  coincidence  that  the  Ro- 
mans should  have  had  their  Prosipernalia,  or  Feast 
of  Candles  or  Candlemass  in  February — their  Palelia, 
or  shepherd's  feast  on  Midsummer  Day  which  is 
sacred  to  St.  John  the  Baptist,  and  that  the  Romish 
Carnival  should  be  held  at  the  same  time  as  the 
ancient  Saturnalia,  and  should  resemble  so  closely 
those  orgies  which  were  of  a  masquerade  character. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  Roman  Catholics  have  been 
in  the  habit  of  celebrating  Christian  festivals  upon 
days  which  were  held  sacred  by  the  heathens. 
Whether  this  was  from  mere  slavish  imitation,  or 
from  a  fondness  for  old  associations,  or  from  a  desire 
to  sanctify  those  days  unhallowed  by  paganism  it  is 
impossible  to  say. 

One  of  the  most  extraordinary  examples  of  this 
custom  is  to  be  found  in  our  grand  festival  of  Christ- 
mas. 

All  will  allow,  I  think,  that  there  is  no  evidence 
to  prove  that  the  twenty-fifth  of  December  was  the 
actual  day  upon  which  Christ  was  born.  And  that 
He  really  arose  on  Easter  Day  can  scarcely  be 
believed,  since  the  fixing  of  that  day  was  not  arranged 
among  the  early  Christians  till  after  swords  as  well 
as  words  had  been  used  in  the  conflict,  and  several 
fierce  battles  had  been  fought. 

I  hope  that  I  shall  not  weaken  the  genial  feelings 


164       Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  1Rome. 

with  which  Christmas  Day,  that  holiday  of  the  year, 
is  greeted  by  the  nation  if  I  expose  the  real  origin  of 
the  festival.  But  that  I  feel  sure  is  impossible.  It 
would  need  something  more  than  a  few  facts  from 
old  books  to  blot  out  all  those  happy  associations 
which  crowd  around  that  glorious  festival,  which 
though  it  may  be  celebrated  on  the  wrong  day  is 
kept  in  the  right  manner. 

I  may,  however,  show  those  Christians  who  wor- 
ship the  letter  and  not  the  spirit,  who  attach  more 
sanctity  to  the  day  than  to  the  festival,  who  set  their 
children  over  grave  books  and  who  forbid  them  to 
laugh  on  that  day  when  there  is  a  smile  even  on  the 
poor  man's  lips,  I  may  show  those  word-mongers, 
those  silly  Puritans,  those  harsh  blunderers  in  religion 
what  honor  they  have  paid  to  heathenism  all  their 
lives. 

The  festival  of  the  twenty-fifth  of  December,  which 
we  call  Christmas,  was  observed  by  the  Druids  on 
that  day  by  lighting  great  fires  on  the  tops  of  hills. 
The  festival  was  repeated  on  the  twelfth  day  after- 
wards, which  we  call  old  Christmas  Day. 

And  even  now  there  are  certain  rites  performed 
under  the  sacred  mistletoe  on  Christmas  Day  which 
certainly  have  little  to  do  with  Christianity. 

The  Jews  also  celebrated  a  festival  on  the  twenty- 
fifth    of  December   which   they   called   Suf   or  the 


Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  TRome.      165 

feast  of  light,  and  which  Josephus  believed  to  have 
been  instituted  by  Judas  Maccabaeus. 

The  twenty-fifth  of  December  too  was  the  birth- 
day of  the  God  Mithra,  and  it  was  an  old  custom  of 
the  heathens  to  celebrate  the  birthdays  of  their 
Gods. 

And  now  I  will  explain  when  this  day  was  first 
established  as  the  birthday  of  Christ.  The  Coenobite 
monks  finding  that  in  their  monasteries  (most  of 
which  were  pagan  seminaries  built  efore  the  Chris- 
tian era)  a  day  had  been  from  time  immemorial 
dedicated  to  the  God  Sol  as  his  birthday,  and  that 
he  bore  the  name  of  Lord — this  Lord  they  conceived 
must  be  their  Lord,  and  after  many  disputes  the 
twenty-fifth  of  December  was  established  as  the 
anniversary  of  Christ,  and  so  the  Druidic  festival  of 
the  winter  solstice  became  a  Christian  ceremony. 

The  origin  of  Sunday  is  very  similar;  but  while 
the  heathen  festival  of  Christmas  has  received  a 
Christian  name,  this  has  retained  its  Pagan  ap- 
pellation. 

Such  was  the  abhorrence  which  the  early  Christ- 
ians felt  for  their  persecutors,  the  Jews,  that  they  were 
wont  to  reject  all  that  was  Jewish,  as  the  first  Puri- 
tans rejected  all  that  was  Romish  without  considering 
its  intrinsic  merits. 

God  had  ordained  the  seventh  day  for  man's  rest 


166       Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  IRome. 

and  recreation.  He  had  given  forth  that  edict  from 
Mount  Sinai  not  to  the  Israelites  only,  but  to  the 
whole  world.  But  since  the  Jews  faithfully  kept  this 
commandment,  the  Christians  hated  the  Sabbath  and 
took  a  step  which  was  wholly  unauthorized  by  their 
Master,  or  by  any  of  his  Apostles.  They  changed 
the  day. 

They  called  this  new  day  the  Lord's  Day,  or  the 
Day-of-the-Sun. 

The  word  Lord  is  heathen,  and  is  equivalent  to 
Baal  in  Chaldee  and  to  Adonis  in  Phoenician.  It 
first  crept  into  the  Scripture  thus: 

The  Jews,  in  obedience  to  the  law  "  thou  shalt  not 
take  the  name  of  Jehovah  thy  God  in  vain,"  never 
wrote  or  spoke  His  name  except  on  the  most  solemn 
occasions.  And  the  first  translators  to  avoid  the 
frequent  repetition  of  the  word,  first  used  this  hiero- 
glyphic ^5J)  and  afterwards  the  term  which  the 
Pagans  applied  to  their  God  Sol,  which  in  Greek 
was  rjvgioi;  in  Latin  domznus,  in  Celtic  adon,  in 
Hebrew  adoni. 

Now  the  Persians  set  apart  every  month  four  of 
these  Lord's  days  or  lesser  festivals  to  the  Sun.  On 
these  days,  they  had  more  solemn  service  in  their 
temples  than  on  other  days,  reading  portions  of  their 
sacred  books  and  preaching  morality. 

But  the  most  curious  point  of  resemblance  is  that 


Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  iRome.       167 

on  these  days  alone  they  prayed  standing.  And  in 
the  sixteenth  canon  of  the  Council  of  Nice  to  kneel 
in  prayer  on  Sundays  is  forbidden. 

Constantine,  after  pretending  to  be  converted  to 
Christianity,  ordered  the  day  Domini  invicti  Solis 
to  be  set  apart  for  the  celebration  of  peculiar  mys- 
teries in  honor  of  the  great  god  Sol. 

The  early  Christians  were  accused  by  the  heathens 
of  worshipping  the  sun,  and  Justin,  as  if  loathing  the 
very  name  of  the  Jewish  Sabbath,  preferred  writing 
of  it  as  fiuega  tovtjIic  the  day-of-the-sun. 

Since  it  would  be  now  almost  impossible  to  restore 
our  weekly  day  of  rest  to  that  day  which  God  thought 
fit  to  appoint,  and  which  man  thought  fit  to  alter,  I 
may  be  blamed  for  having  made  these  disclosures 
which  certainly  do  not  redound  to  the  honor  of  our 
religion. 

But  I  have  had  my  reason.  It  is  to  show  the  folly 
of  those  who  go  word-mongering,  to  make  triumph- 
ant comparisons  between  the  Day-of-the-sun  as 
observed  by  Christians,  and  God's  Sabbath  as 
observed  by  Jews;  who  bring  out  their  religion,  their 
consciences,  their  bibles,  their  sternest  faces  and 
their  best  clothes  upon  this  day,  and  who  believe  or 
seem  to  believe  that  God  sleeps  all  the  week,  and 
that  if  they  go  to  church  on  Sunday  they  succeed  in 
deceiving  him. 


168      Ceremonies  of  tbe  Gburcb  of  iRome. 

It  is  not  at  this  hour  or  at  that  hour  that  God  is 
to  be  worshipped.  Lip-services  resemble  the  treach- 
erous kisses  of  a  Judas,  and  the  heart  does  not 
naturally  aspire  towards  heaven  at  the  striking  of  a 
clock  or  at  the  ringing  of  a  church  bell. 

Before  concluding  this  chapter,  I  should  wish  to 
exculpate  myself  from  the  supposition  that  I  have 
written  in  an  unjust  spirit  against  the  members  of 
ths  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

I  know  that  they  can  boast  of  many  devout  dis- 
ciples— of  many  enterprising  missionaries — of  many 
conscientious  priests.  I  know  that  they  are  not  now 
more  foolish  and  bigoted  than  the  members  of  the 
Protestant  churches,  as  in  former  times  the  murder- 
ers of  St.  Bartholomew  were  no  worse  than  the  cruel 
Calvin,  nor  Bloody  Mary  than  James  the  First.  In 
those  days  a  remnant  of  the  horrible  custom  of  human 
sacrifice  was  preserved  by  all  alike.  They  martyred 
those  of  the  same  religion  as  themselves  but  not  of 
the  same  sect,  burning  them,  drowning  them,  tear- 
ing them  limb  from  limb  like  the  Pagans  of  old,  as 
offerings  to  a  kind  and  gracious  God. 

It  is  true  that  the  Roman  Catholics  were  the  most 
ruthless  in  barbarity  and  the  most  ingenious  in  tor- 
ture, but  it  was  because  they  possessed  the  most 
power. 

I  know  that  Roman  Catholic  priests  do  not  really 


Ceremontes  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  1Rome.      169 

worship  those  images  of  the  saints  to  which  they 
bend  their  knees.  But  though  they  are  not  idolaters 
themselves,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  they  have  taught 
their  disciples  to  be  idolaters. 

I  do  not  suppose  that  men  of  genius  or  even  of 
education  ever  yet  were,  or  ever  could  be  image- 
worshippers. 

Listen  to  these  words  of  the  Emperor  Julian, 
written  in  an  age  that  is  supposed  to  have  been  en- 
slaved in  idolatry  : 

"  The  statues  of  the  gods,  the  altars  that  are  raised 
to  them,  and  the  holy  fires  that  are  burnt  in  their  honor 
have  been  instituted  by  our  fathers  as  signs  and  em- 
blems of  the  presence  of  the  Gods,  not  that  we  should 
regard  them  as  Gods,  but  that  we  should  honor  the 
Gods  in  them" 

I  might  quote  fifty  other  passages  to  prove  that 
in  all  idolatrous  nations  the  priests  and  philosophers, 
though  affecting  to  be  image-worshippers,  have  in 
their  hearts  scorned  those  pieces  of  wood  and  stone 
to  which  their  dupes  so  devoutly  kneeled. 

In  papistry,  there  are  as  many  dupes  and  as  much 
idolatry  as  ever  existed  in   Egypt,  in  Italy,  or  in 

Greece. 

Witness  a  Roman  Catholic  service,  and  you  will 

see  heads  bowed  before  stone-images  and  prayers, 


170      Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  IRome. 

murmured  not  in  mere  reverence  but  in  actual 
adoration. 

Study  the  doctrine  of  Transubstantiation.  Is  not 
that  an  instance  of  the  emblem  being  forgotten  in 
the  God? 

These  abuses  are  melancholy  to  contemplate,  for 
these  alone  it  is  which  hold  two  Christian  churches 
asunder.  These  with  the  Platonic  dogma  of  purga- 
tory upon  which  no  man  can  decide,  and  upon 
which  therefore  it  is  foolish  for  man  to  contend. 

English  priests  beware  how  you  nurse  idolatry  ; 
for  those  who  do  so,  enchain  not  only  others  but 
themselves. 

In  the  reign  of  Peter  the  Great,  a  law  was  passed 
by  a  synod  of  the  Greek  Church  in  Russia  enacting 
that  the  use  of  pictures  in  churches  was  contrary  to 
the  principles  in  Christianity,  and  that  all  such 
should  be  removed  from  places  of  worship. 

The  Emperor  sanctioned  this  law,  but  feared  to 
put  it  into  execution  lest  it  should  cause  a  general 
insurrection. 

Superstition,  born  of  Satan,  fed  and  fostered  by 
priests,  like  a  hideous  cuttle-fish  has  cast  its  white 
and  slimy  arms  around  the  Harlot  of  Babylon,  and 
has  bedaubed  her  with  its  black  blood.  Now  she 
loves  this  blood  and  knows  not  that  it  defiles  her ; 
she  loves  these  embraces  and  knows  not  that  they 


Ceremonies  of  tbe  Cburcb  of  TRome*      171 

enslave  her.  But  some  day  aspiring-  to  be  free,  she 
will  attempt  to  rise  from  her  grave  of  sand  and  foul 
weeds;  and  then  seizing  her  in  its  horrible  arms,  that 
demon  who  so  long  has  triumphed  over  her  will  sink 
with  her  forever  beneath  the  waves. 


II. 

IN  THE  EMBLEMS  OF  FREEMASONRY. 

THERE  is  a  divine  and  hidden  science  whose 
origin  can  only  be  discovered  by  the  wavering 
lights  of  tradition,  whose  doctrines  and  purposes  are 
enveloped  in  sacred  mysteries. 

It  is  now  degenerated  into  a  society  of  gluttons 
and  wine-bibbers,  who  yawn  while  their  Masters 
expound  to  them  those  emblems  which  have  excited 
the  wonder  of  the  greatest  philosophers  of  the  past, 
and  who  deem  that  the  richest  gem  of  freemasonry 
is  the  banquet  which  closes  the  labor  of  the  Lodge. 

And  yet  this  order  can  boast  of  some  learned  and 
intellectual  men,  who  endeavor  to  find  the  key  to 
the  hidden  language  of  symbols,  and  who  appreciate 
at  its  true  value  the  high  honors  which  the  initiated 
are  permitted  to  enjoy. 

In  spite  of  the  abuses  with  which  it  has  been  de- 
graded, in  spite  of  the  sneers  with  which  the  ignorant 
revile  it,  this  institution  still  possesses  much  that  is 

holy  and  sublime. 

172 


Emblems  ot  freemasonry.  173 

No  feelings  can  be  compared  with  those  which  a 
young  man  feels  when,  attired  in  strange  array, 
blind-folded,  the  dagger  pointed  to  his  naked  left 
breast,  he  is  led  through  the  mystic  labyrinth,  whose 
intricate  ways  are  emblematical  of  the  toilsome  wan- 
derings of  his  soul. 

The  strains  of  solemn  music — the  mysterious 
words — the  low  knock  at  the  portal — the  sudden 
blaze  of  light — and  the  strange  sight  which  await 
his  eyes  feeble  and  fluttering  from  their  long  im- 
prisonment. 

What  awe  he  feels,  as  kneeling  on  his  right  knee, 
his  left  hand  placed  upon  the  Book  of  the  Law,  en- 
circled by  the  Masters  in  their  robes  of  office,  and 
the  two  white  wands  held  over  his  head  in  the  form 
of  a  cross,  he  takes  the  oath  of  secrecy  and  faith, 
"to  hail,  conceal  and  never  reveal  the  hidden  mys- 
teries of  the  fellowship "  to  which  he  is  now  ad- 
mitted. 

And  what  pride  flushes  in  his  heart  when  the 
secret  signs  and  key-words  are  imparted  to  him,  and 
when  the  white  apron,  a  badge  more  glorious  than 
the  fabled  Golden  Fleece,  or  the  Roman  Eagle  is 
tied  round  his  waist. 

Surrounded  by  all  those  signs  and  symbols  by 
which  the  ancient  nations  were  wont  to  express  the 
power  and  presence  of  God,  the  Mason's  Lodge  re- 


174  Emblems  of  jfreemasonrs. 

sembles  a  scene  of  enchantment  in  the  midst  of  this 
wilderness  which  we  call  the  world.  And  those  who 
are  thus  assembled  together  in  mystic  robes,  seem 
spirits  of  another  age,  who  have  returned  to  hold 
their  hidden  meetings  once  more  in  the  catacombs 
of  the  Egyptian  pyramids,  or  in  the  cavern -temples 
sacred  to  Mithra,  or  in  the  subterranean  labyrinths 
of  the  holy  Druids. 

The  brethren  seated  in  a  circle,  one  of  the  Masters 
arises  and  advances  to  the  midst.  He  relates  to 
them  a  tradition  of  the  origin  of  their  craft. 

"  After  the  sun  had  descended  down  the  seventh 
age  from  Adam  before  the  flood  of  Noah,  there  was 
born  unto  Methusael,  the  son  of  Mehujael,  a  man 
called  Lamach  who  took  unto  himself  two  wives .  the 
name  of  the  one  was  Adah,  of  the  other  Zillah. 
Now  Adah  his  first  wife,  bare  two  sons — the  one 
named  Jabel  and  the  other  Jubal.  Jabal  was  the 
inventor  of  geometry  and  the  first  who  built  houses 
of  stone  and  timber,  and  Jubal  was  the  inventor  of 
music  and  harmony.  Zillah,  his  second  wife,  bare 
Tubal  Cain,  the  instructor  of  every  artificer  in  brass 
and  iron,  and  a  daughter  called  Naamah  who  was 
the  founder  of  the  weaver's  craft. 

"  All  these  had  knowledge  from  above,  that  the 
Almighty  would  take  vengeance  for  sin  either  by  fire 
or  by  water,  so  great  was  the  wickedness  of  the 


Emblems  ot  ^Freemasonry  175 

world.  So  they  reasoned  among  themselves  how 
they  might  preserve  the  knowledge  of  the  sciences 
which  they  had  found,  and  Jabal  said  that  there  were 
two  different  kinds  of  stone  of  such  virtue  that  one 
would  not  burn  and  the  other  would  not  sink — the 
one  called  marble  and  the  other  latres.  They  then 
agreed  to  write  all  the  science  that  they  had  found 
upon  these  stones. 

"  After  the  destruction  of  the  world,  these  two 
pillars  were  discovered  by  Hermes,  the  son  of  Shem. 
Then  the  craft  of  masonry  began  to  flourish,  and 
Nimrod  was  one  of  the  earliest  patrons  of  the  art. 
Abraham,  the  son  of  Jerah,  was  skilled  in  the  seven 
sciences  and  taught  the  Egyptians  the  science  of 
grammar.  Euclid  was  his  pupil,  and  instructed  them 
in  the  art  of  making  mighty  walls  and  ditches  to 
preserve  their  houses  from  the  inundations  of  the 
Nile,  and  by  geometry  measured  out  the  land,  and 
divided  it  into  partitions  so  that  each  man  might 
ascertain  his  own  property.  And  he  it  was  who 
gave  masonry  the  name  of  geometry. 

"  In  his  days,  it  came  to  pass  that  the  sovereign 
and  lords  of  the  realm  had  gotten  many  sons  unlaw- 
fully by  other  men's  wives,  insomuch  that  the  land 
was  grievously  burdened  with  them.  A  council  was 
called  but  no  reasonable  remedy  was  proposed.  The 
king    then    ordered   a    proclamation   to   be    made 


176  Emblems  ot  ^Freemasonry. 

throughout  his  realms,  that  high  rewards  would  be 
given  to  any  man  who  would  devise  a  proper  method 
for  maintaining  the  children.  Euclid  dispelled  the 
difficulty.  He  thus  addressed  the  king:  '  My  noble 
sovereign,  if  I  may  have  order  and  government  of 
these  lord's  sons,  I  will  teach  them  the  seven  liberal 
sciences,  whereby  they  may  live  honestly  like  gentle- 
men, provided  that  you  will  grant  me  power  over 
them  by  virtue  of  your  royal  commission.' 

"This  request  was  immediately  complied  with, 
and  Euclid  established  a  Lodge  of  Masons." 

This  tale  is  curious  as  being  the  earliest  account 
of  an  educational  institution. 

There  are  various  traditions  of  minor  interest  re- 
lating to  the  patriarchal  ages  and  to  the  wanderings 
of  the  Israelites  in  the  wilderness. 

The  Freemasons  claim  descent  from  that  body  of 
builders  who,  some  from  Phoenicia,  and  some  from 
India,  came  to  Jerusalem  to  erect  the  temple  of 
Solomon.  They  also  assert  that  these  masons  were 
governed  by  the  same  laws,  and  united  by  the  same 
ties  as  those  of  the  modern  order,  and  in  the  initia- 
tion of  a  Master-mason  the  following  tradition  is 
related  respecting  the  death  of  the  Phoenician  Hiram 
Abiff,  the  master  architect  who  directed  the  building 
of  the  temple: 

"  There  were  fifteen  fellow-craftsmen,  who  finding 


Emblems  of  jfreemasonrs.  177 

that  the  temple  was  almost  finished,  and  that  they 
had  not  received  the  master's  word  because  their 
time  was  not  come,  agreed  to  extort  it  from  their 
master,  the  skilful  Hiram  Abiff,  on  the  first  oppor- 
tunity, that  they  might  pass  for  masters  in  other 
countries  and  have  masters'  wages.  Twelve  recanted 
and  the  other  three  determined  to  carry  out  the  plot. 
Their  names  were  Jubela,  Jubelo,  and  Jubelum. 
These  three  crafts  knowing  that  it  was  always  the 
master's  custom  at  twelve  at  noon,  when  the  men 
were  called  off  to  refreshment,  to  go  into  the  sanctum 
sanctorum  to  pray  to  the  true  and  living  God — 
they  placed  themselves  at  the  three  entrances  to  the 
temple,  viz.,  at  the  west,  south  and  east  doors. 
There  was  no  entrance  in  the  north,  because  thence 
the  sun  darts  no  rays.  Thus  they  waited  while  he 
made  his  prayer  to  the  Lord,  to  have  the  word  or 
grip  as  he  came  out,  or  his  life.  So  Hiram  came  to 
the  east  door,  and  Jubela  demanded  the  master's 
word.  Hiram  told  him  he  did  not  receive  it  in  such 
a  manner  but  he  must  wait,  and  time  and  a  little 
patience  would  bring  him  to  it,  for  it  was  not  in  his 
power  to  deliver  it  except  the  three  Grand  Masters 
were  together,  viz:  Solomon,  King  of  Israel,  Hiram, 
King  of  Tyre,  and  Hiram  Abiff. 

"  Jubela  struck  him  across  the  throat  with  a  24-inch 
gauge.     He  fled  thence  to  the  south  door  where  he 


178  Emblems  of  ffreemasonrE. 

Was  accosted  in  the  same  manner  by  Jubelo  to  whom 
he  gave  a  similar  answer,  and  who  gave  him  a  blow 
with  a  square  upon  his  left  breast.  Hiram  reeled 
but  recovered  himself,  and  flew  to  the  west  door 
where  Jubelum  gave  him  a  heavy  blow  upon  the 
head  with  a  common  gavel  or  setting  maul  which 
proved  his  death. 

"  After  this  they  carried  him  out  of  the  west  door 
and  hid  him  in  a  heap  of  rubbish  till  it  was  twelve  at 
night,  when  they  found  means  to  bury  him  in  a 
handsome  grave,  six  feet  east  and  west,  and  six  feet 
in  height. 

"  When  Hiram  was  missed,  King  Solomon  made 
great  inquiry  after  him,  and  not  hearing  anything 
of  him  supposed  him  to  be  dead.  The  twelve  crafts 
that  had  recanted  hearing  the  said  report,  and  their 
consciences  pricking  them,  went  and  informed  King 
Solomon  with  white  aprons  and  gloves  as  tokens  of 
their  innocence.  King  Solomon  forthwith  sent  them 
in  search  of  the  three  murderers  who  had  absconded, 
and  they  agreed  to  make  the  pursuit  in  four  parties, 
three  going  north,  three  south,  three  east,  and  three 
west. 

"  As  one  of  these  parnes  traveled  down  to  the  sea 
of  Joppa,  one  of  them  sitting  himself  down  to  rest  by 
the  side  of  a  rock,  heard  the  following  lamentations 
proceed  from  a  cleft  within: — 


Emblems  ot  jfreemasonrs.  179 

" « O  that  I  had  my  throat  cut  across,  and  my 
tongue  torn  out  by  the  root,  and  buried  in  the  sands 
of  the  sea  at  low  water  a  cable  length  from  the  shore, 
where  the  tide  doth  regularly  ebb  and  flow  twice  in 
the  course  of  the  twenty-four  hours,  than  that  I  had 
been  concerned  in  the  death  of  our  master  Hiram.' 

"And  then  another  voice: 

"  '  Oh!  that  I  had  my  heart  torn  from  under  my 
naked  left  breast,  and  given  to  the  vultures  of  the 
air  as  a  prey,  rather  than  I  had  been  concerned  in 
the  death  of  so  good  a  master.' 

"'But  oh!'  cried  Jubelum.  I  struck  him  harder 
than  you  both,  for  I  killed  him.  Oh  !  that  I  had  had 
my  body  severed  in  two,  one  part  carried  to  the 
south,  and  the  other  to  the  north,  my  bowels  burnt 
to  ashes  and  scattered  before  the  four  winds  of  the 
earth,  rather  than  I  had  been  concerned  in  the  death 
of  our  master  Hiram.' 

"  The  brother  that  heard  these  sorrowful  lamen- 
tations hailed  the  other  two,  and  they  went  into  the 
cleft  of  the  rock  and  took  them  and  bound  them,  and 
brought  them  before  King  Solomon,  when  they 
owned  what  had  passed,  and  what  they  had  done, 
and  did  not  desire  to  live,  therefore  King  Solomon 
ordered  their  own  sentences  to  be  executed  upon 
them,  saying,  '  They  have  signed  their  own  deaths, 
and  let  it  be  upon  them  as  they  have  said.' 


i8o  Emblems  of  freemasonry. 

"  '  Jubela  was  taken  out,  and  his  throat  cut  across, 
and  his  tongue  torn  out  by  the  root,  and  buried  in 
the  sands  of  the  sea  at  low  water,  a  cable  length 
from  the  shore,  where  the  tide  did  regularly  ebb  and 
flow  twice  in  the  course  of  the  twenty-four  hours. 

"Jubelo's  heart  was  torn  from  under  his  naked 
left  breast,  and  was  given  to  the  vultures  of  the  air 
as  a  prey. 

"  Jubelum's  body  was  severed  in  two,  one  part  was 
carried  to  the  north,  the  other  to  the  south,  his 
bowels  were  burnt  to  ashes  and  scattered  to  the  four 
winds  of  the  earth." 

The  real  secret  of  Freemasonry,  viz.,  its  origin  and 
purport,  as  yet  remain  an  enigma  and  will  probably 
ever  remain  so. 

There  are  some  authors  who  have  fixed  the  source 
of  this  sacred  and  mysterious  fountain  within  the 
oaken  groves  of  the  extinguished  order  of  the 
Druids. 

Who  assert  that  when  Druidism  was  proscribed, 
its  priests  adopted  various  disguises  and  carried  their 
learning  into  various  professions.  Some  became 
school -masters  and  taught  science  to  the  youth  of 
Britain,  as  they  had  once  done  in  the  forest  semin- 
aries of  Mona.  Some  fortune-tellers,  the  parents  of 
the  tribes  of  gypsies  who  still  retain  a  kind  of  brother- 


Emblems  of  freemasonry.  181 

hood  united  by  oaths  and  secret  signs,  and  who  at 
one  time  possessed  so  strange  an  ascendancy  over 
the  minds  of  the  vulgar. 

And  others  who  formed  themselves  into  a  com- 
munity resembling,  if  not  in  their  power,  at  least  in 
their  unanimity,  that  ancient  body  of  priests  who 
had  once  been  the  sovereigns  of  Britain. 

At  first  I  was  inclined  to  believe  that  such  was 
really  the  case,  and  that  Freemasonry  was  no  more 
than  a  reproduction  of  Druidism  in  the  Middle  Ages. 
On  searching  for  materials,  I  met  with  evidence  in 
limine  which  tended  to  confirm  me  in  this  conviction. 
There  was  a  manuscript  discovered  in  the  Bodleian 
Library  at  Oxford  in  1696,  which  was  supposed  to 
have  been  written  about  the  year  1436.  It  purports 
to  be  an  examination  of  one  of  the  brotherhood  by 
King  Henry  VI,  and  is  allowed  by  all  masonic  writers 
to  be  genuine. 

Its  title  is  as  follows:  "  Certain  questions  with  an- 
swers to  the  same  concerning  the  mystery  of  jnasonry 
written  by  King  Henry  the  Sixth  and  faithfully  copied 
by  me  John  Leylande,  antiquarian^  by  command  of  his 
highness." 

I  give  an  extract  modernizing  the  English  of  the 
original,  which,  though  quaint,  would  be  unintelligible 
to  all  but  antiquaries  : — 


182  Emblems  ot  jfreemasonrp. 

"  What  mote  it  be  ?— It  is  the  knowledge  of  nature,  and  the  power 
of  its  various  operations;  particularly  the  skill  of  reckoning,  ©f  weights 
and  measures,  of  constructing  buildings  and  dwellings  of  all  kinds, 
and  the  true  manner  of  forming  all  things  for  the  use  of  man. 

"Where  did  it  begin ? — it  began  with  the  first  men  of  the  East,  who 
were  before  the  first  men  of  the  West,  and  coming  with  it,  it  hath 
brought  all  comforts  to  the  wild  and  comfortless. 

"Who  brought  it  to  the  West? — the  Phoenicians  who,  being  great 
merchants,  came  first  from  the  East  into  Phoenicia,  for  the  convenience 
of  commerce,  both  East  and  West  by  the  Red  and  Mediterranean 
Seas. 

"  How  came  it  into  England? — Pythagoras,  a  Grecian,  traveled  to 
acquire  knowledge  in  Egypt  and  in  Syria,  and  in  every  other  land 
where  the  Phoenicians  had  planted  masonry;  and  gaining  admittance 
into  all  lodges  of  masons,  he  learned  much,  and  returned  and  dwelt 
in  Grecia  Magna,  growing  and  becoming  mighty  wise  and  greatly 
renowned.  Here  he  formed  a  great  lodge  at  Crotona,  and  made  many 
masons,  some  of  whom  traveled  into  France,  and  there  made  many 
more,  from  whence,  in  process  of  time,  the  art  passed  into  England." 

This,  I  need  not  remind  the  reader,  is  a  story  very 
similar  to  those  current  respecting  the  first  planting 
of  Druidism  in  Britain. 

I  also  discovered,  as  I  thought,  a  key  to  the  tra- 
dition of  Hiram  AbifT,  which  I  havejust  related,  viz., 
that  it  was  simply  the  story  of  Osiris  (killed  by 
Typhon  the  Evil  Spirit,  buried  in  a  coffin  and  found 
by  Isis)  so  corrupted  by  modern  Masons. 

In  the  continuation  of  the  story  of  Hiram,  it  is 
stated  that  the  twelve  crafts  on  discovering  his  body 
were  unable  to  raise  it,  and  that  King  Solomon 
ordered  a  lodge  of  master-masons  to  be  summoned 
and  said,  "  I  will  go  myself  in  person  and  try  to 
raise  the  body  by  the  master s grip  or  the  /ions paw. 


Emblems  of  ^Freemasonry.  183 

By  means  of  this  grip  the  Grand-Master  Hiram  was 
raised. 

Now  in  a  figure  painted  on  a  mummy  at  the  Austin 
Fryar's  of  La  Place  des  Victores,  representing  the 
death  and  resurrection  of  Osiris,  is  seen  an  exact 
model  of  the  position  of  the  master-mason  as  he 
raises  Hiram. 

jfubela,  Jubelo,  Jubelum  are  merely  variations  from 
the  Latin  word  jubco,  I  command.  The  pretended 
assassins  are  represented  as  demanding  the  master's 
grip  and  word  from  Hiram  in  an  imperious  manner. 

A  more  satisfactory  proof  of  the  truth  of  this 
statement  is  contained  in  an  astronomical  notion  of 
the  Hindoos,  whose  Ckrisna  is  the  same  as  the 
Osiris  of  the  Egyptians. 

The  Decans,  or  Elohim,  are  the  gods  of  whom  it 
is  said  the  Almighty  created  the  Universe.  They 
arranged  the  order  of  the  zodiac.  The  Elohim  of 
the  summer  were  gods  of  a  benevolent  disposition; 
they  made  the  days  long,  and  loaded  the  sun's  head 
with  topaz.  While  the  three  wretches  that  presided 
in  the  winter  at  the  extreme  end  of  the  year,  hid  in 
the  realms  below,  were,  with  the  constellation  to 
which  they  belonged,  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the 
zodiac;  and  as  they  were  missing,  were  consequently 
accused  of  bringing  Chrisna  into  those  troubles  which 
at  last  ended  in  his  death. 


1 84  Emblems  of  freemasonry. 

Even  allowing  these  premises  to  be  true,  it  does 
not  necessarily  follow  that  the  traditionary  account 
of  the  building  of  Solomon's  Temple  by  masons  was 
also  allegorical. 

And  indeed  there  is  so  much  that  is  purely  He- 
brew in  ceremonial  masonry,  that  one  is  almost 
forced  to  believe  that  the  Freemasons  of  the  present 
day  are  really  descended  from  a  body  of  architects, 
who,  like  the  Dionysiacks  of  Asia  Minor,  were  united 
into  a  fraternal  association  and  who  erected  the 
temple  of  Solomon. 

In  these  ceremonies,  however,  and  in  their  em- 
blems there  is  much  also  that  is  Druidic,  and  if  Free- 
masonry did  not  emanate  from  Druidism,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  it  sprang  from  the  same  origin. 

I  will  trace  out  the  affinity  between  the  Masonic 
Order  of  the  Present,  and  the  Druid  Order  of  the 
Past.  It  shall  be  for  the  reader  to  decide  whether 
these  Masonic  usages  are  vestiges  of  Druidism,  or 
mere  points  of  family  resemblance. 

The  initiations  of  Masons  are  so  similar  to  those 
of  the  Druids,  that  any  Mason  reading  my  article 
upon  the  subject  must  have  been  struck  by  the 
resemblance. 

The  ovade  wore  a  goid  chain  round  his  neck. 
And  the  apprentice  when  initiated  has  a  silk  cord,  in 
masonic  parlance  a   cable-tow,  suspended  from  his 


Emblems  of  ffreemasonrg.  185 

throat.    Like  the  ovade,  the  apprentice  is  blindfolded, 

and  as  the  former  was  led  through  the  mazes  of  a 

labyrinth,  the  latter  is  led  backwards  and  forwards, 

and  in  various  directions. 

Thunder  and  lightning  were  counterfeited  in  the 

initiation  of  a  Druid,  and  in  that  of  the  Royal  Arch 

the  Companions  fire  pistols,  clash  swords,  overturn 

chairs,  and  roll  cannon  balls  across  the  floor. 

The  tiler  stands  at  the  door  with  a  drawn 
sword. 

And  tests  of  fortitude  though  less  severe  than  in 
former  times  are  not  unknown  among-  Masons.  The 
following  arduous  trial  was  used  in  the  Female 
Lodges  of  Paris  : — 

"  A  candidate  for  admission  was  usually  very  much 
excited.  During  a  part  of  the  ceremony  she  was 
conducted  to  an  eminence,  and  told  to  look  down 
at  what  awaited  her  if  she  faltered  in  her  duty.  Be- 
neath her  appeared  a  frightful  abyss  in  which  a 
double  row  of  iron  spikes  were  visible.  No  doubt 
her  mind  was  in  a  chaos  of  fanaticism,  for  instead  of 
shrinking  at  the  sight,  she  exclaimed  "  I  can  en- 
counter all,"  and  sprang  forward.  At  that  moment 
a  secret  spring  was  touched,  and  the  candidate  fell 
not  on  the  spikes,  but  on  a  green  bed  in  imitation 
of  a  verdant  plain.  She  fainted  but  was  soon 
recovered  by  her  friends,  when   the  scene  having- 


186  Emblems  ot  ^freemasonry. 

changed  she  was  reanimated  and  soothed  by  the 
sweet  strains  of  choral  music." 

I  have  already  shown,  I  trust  conclusively,  that 
the  Druidic  mysteries  were  founded  on  those  of  the 
Egyptians,  and  were  analogous  to  those  of  Tyre, 
Persia  and  Hindostan;  and  that  their  moral  doctrines 
and  pristine  simplicity  of  worship  wrere  those  of  the 
Hebrew  Patriarchs. 

It  will  be  easy  to  show  that  those  of  Freemasonry, 
if  not  a  mere  perpetuation  of  the  Druidic  were  de- 
rived from  the  same  fountains,  and  that  the  secrets 
of  this  science  and  philosophy  are  hidden  from  us 
by  the  veil  of  Isis. 

To  the  Egyptian  candidate  on  his  initiation,  the 
Hierophant  displayed  the  holy  volume  of  hiero- 
glyphics which  he  then  restored  to  its  repository. 

So  when  the  eyes  of  the  apprentice  are  first  re- 
leased from  darkness,  he  beholds  the  volume  of  the 
sacred  law. 

During  the  Persian  initiations,  the  doctrine  was 
enforced  ex  cathedra,  from  the  desk  or  pulpit.  So 
the  Grand  Master  sits  on  a  throne  before  which  the 
candidate  kneels,  pointing  a  dagger  to  his  naked  left 
breast  and  two  white  wands  being  crossed  above  his 
head. 

On  the  seal  of  the  ancient  Abbey  of  Arbroath  in 
Scotland,  is  a  representation  which  bears  a  curious 


Emblems  of  ^freemasonry.  187 

resemblance  to  the  engraving  on  a  seal  used  by  the 
priests  of  Isis,  and  which  Plutarch  describes  in  his 
Essay  on  Isis  and  Osiris — a  man  kneeling,  his  hands 
bound,  and  a  knife  at  his  throat. 

In  all  the  ancient  mysteries  before  an  aspirant 
could  claim  participation  in  the  higher  secrets  of 
the  institution,  he  was  placed  within  the  pastos  or 
bed,  or  coffin,  and  was  subjected  to  a  confinement  in 
darkness  for  a  certain  time. 

This  I  have  described  to  be  practiced  by  the 
Druids.  In  some  of  their  labyrinths,  discovered  in 
France,  the  remains  of  cells  Lave  been  found,  and 
there  was  a  dark  cell  of  probation  recently  standing 
near  Maidstone,  Kitt's  Cotti  House — from  Ked  (or 
Ceridwen)  the  British  Isis,  and  cotti  an  ark,  01 
chest. 

So  in  the  initiation  of  a  Master  Mason,  the  candi- 
date is  in  some  lodges  buried  in  a  coffin  to  represent 
the  death  of  the  murdered  Hiram  AbirT. 

The  grand  festival  of  Masonry  is  on  Midsummer 
Day,  which  was  also  the  grand  festival  of  the  Druids. 

The  processional  movements  of  the  Masons  as  of 
the  Druids  were  mostly  circular. 

I  have  already  instanced  the  symbol  by  which  the 
Jews  expressed  the  word  'Jehovah.'     This  letter 
jod  was  believed  by  them  to  denote  the  presence  of 
God,  especially  when  conveyed  in  a  circle    ($\ 


i88  Emblems  of  jfreemasonn?. 

Masons  also  have  a  word  which  they  are  not  allowed 
to  pronounce  except  in  the  presence  of  a  full  lodge, 
and  they  pay  peculiar  reverence  to  a  point  within  a 
circle. 

Some  of  the  Druidic  monuments  are  simple  circles 
with  a  stone  standing  in  the  midst,  and  the  boss  in 
the  centre  of  their  circular  shields  had  probably  the 
same  signification. 

The  Masonic  Lodge,  like  all  Pagan  temples,  is 
built  due  east  and  west.  Its  form  is  an  oblong 
square  which  the  ancients  believed  to  be  the  shape 
of  the  world.  In  the  west  are  two  pillars  surmounted 
by  globes.  The  one  on  the  left  is  called  Boaz,  and 
is  supposed  to  represent  Osiris  or  the  sun,  the  other 
Jachin,  the  emblem  of  Isis  or  the  moon.  The  floor 
is  mosaic,  and  the  walls  are  adorned  with  the  various 
symbols  of  the  craft. 

The  cross  is  one  of  the  chief  emblems  in  Masonry 
as  it  was  in  Druidism,  and  in  all  the  Pagan  religions. 
The  Taw  ij#  is  a  badge  in  Royal  Arch  Masonry, 
and  almost *  all  the  other  varieties  of  the.  symbol 
are  used  in  Masonry. 

The  key  and  the  cross-keys  are  also  mosaic  sym- 
bols. They  are  supposed  to  be  astronomical  signs 
of  Anubis,  or  the  Dog-Star. 

An  ear-of-corn  is  a  prominent  emblem  in  Masonry, 
proving  that  the  order  did  not  confine  their  intellects 


Emblems  of  jFreemasonrs.  189 

and  their  labors  to  the  building  of  houses,  but  de- 
voted themselves  also  to  agriculture. 

A  sprig  of  acacia  is  one  of  the  emblems  revered 
by  the  Masons,  and  answers  to  the  Egyptian  lotus, 
to  the  myrtle  of  Eleusis,  to  the  golden  branch  of 
Virgil  and  to  the  Druidic  mistletoe.  It  is  curious 
that  Houzza  which  Mahomet  esteemed  an  idol — 
Houzza  so  honored  in  the  Arabian  works  of 
Ghatfan  Koreisch,  Kenanah  and  Salem  should  be 
simply  the  acacia.  Thence  was  derived  the  word 
huzza  /  in  our  language,  which  was  probably  at  first 
a  religious  exclamation  like  the  Evoke/  of  the 
Bacchantes. 

The  doctrines  of  Masonry  are  the  most  beautiful 
that  it  is  possible  to  conceive.  They  breathe  the 
simplicity  of  the  earliest  ages  animated  by  the  love 
of  a  martyred  God. 

That  word  which  the  Puritans  translated  "  charity," 
but  which  is  really  "love" — love  is  the  key-stone 
of  the  Royal  Arch  upon  which  is  supported  the  en- 
tire system  of  this  mystic  science. 

In  the  lectures  of  the  French  Lodges  the  whole 
duty  of  a  Mason  «s  summed  up  in  this  one  brief 
sentence :  "  Aimez-vous  les  uns  les  autres,  instruisez- 
vous,  secourez-vous,  voila  tout  notre  livre,  toute  notre 
lot,  toute  notre  scie7ice." 

"  Love  one  another,  teach  one  another,  help  one 


iqo  Emblems  of  ffreemasonrs. 

another.  That  is  all  our  doctrine,  all  our  science, 
all  our  law." 

Ah!  rail  against  us  bigoted  and  ignorant  men, 
slander  us  curious  and  jealous  women  if  you  will. 
Those  who  obey  the  precepts  of  their  masters,  and 
those  who  listen  to  the  truths  which  they  inculcate 
can  readily  forgive  you.  It  is  impossible  to  be  a 
good  Mason  without  being  a  good  man. 

We  have  no  narrow-minded  prejudices;  we  do  not 
debar  from  our  society  this  sect  or  that  sect;  it  is 
sufficient  for  us  that  a  man  worships  God,  no  matter 
under  what  name  or  in  what  manner,  and  we  admit 
him.  Christians,  Jews,  Mahometans,  Buddhists  are 
enrolled  among  us,  and  it  is  in  the  Mason's  Lodge 
alone  that  they  can  kneel  down  together  without 
feeling  hatred,  without  professing  contempt  against 
their  brother  worshippers. 


III. 

IN  RUSTIC  FOLK-LORE. 

IT  is  strange  with  what  pertinacity  the  ignorant 
retain  those  customs  which  their  fathers  observed, 
and  which  they  hold  sacred  without  understanding 
either  their  origin  or  their  purpose. 

It  is  an  attribute  of  human  nature  to  hallow  all 
that  belongs  to  the  past.  It  is  impossible  to  look 
without  admiration  upon  a  venerable  building  which 
has  lived  through  centuries,  an  immortal  work  of  art; 
it  is  natural  that  we  should  also  revere  those  customs 
which  have  descended  to  us  by  no  written  laws,  by 
no  kingly  proclamations,  but  simply  from  lip  to  ear, 
from  father  to  son. 

Before  I  enter  the  homes  of  our  peasants  however, 
come  with  me  to  the  mountains  of  Wales  where  we 
shall  find  the  true  descendants,  not  only  of  the 
ancient  Britons  but  also  of  the  Holy  Druids  them- 
selves. 

I  mean  the  Bards,  or  harpers,  who  still  continue 
to  strike  melodious  notes  in  this  land  of  music  and 

191 


i92  tfolfe*Xore. 

metheglin,  and  who  still  convey  to  their  hearers  the 
precepts  of  their  great  ancestors. 

The  Bards  were  always  held  in  high  reverence  in 
Wales,  and  that  is  why  they  have  lived  so  long. 
When  the  priests  had  been  swept  away  by  the  sword 
of  the  new  religion,  this  glorious  association  of 
musicians  remained,  and  consented  to  sing  praises 
to  Jesus  Christ  the  Redeemer,  instead  of  to  HU  the 
pervading  spirit. 

Indeed  it  was  said  of  Barach,  who  was  chief  Bard 
to  Conchobhar  Nessan,  King  of  Ulster,  that  he  de- 
scribed the  passion  of  Jesus  in  such  moving  words 
that  the  king,  transported  with  rage,  drew  his  sword 
and  fell  to  hacking  and  hewing  the  trees  of  the  wood 
in  which  he  was  standing,  mistaking  them  for  Jews, 
and  even  died  of  the  frenzy. 

By  studying  the  old  Welsh  laws  of  Howel  the 
good  king  (a.  d.  940),  one  finds  some  curious  matter 
respecting  the  position  which  the  Bards  held  at  that 
time  in  the  Court  and  country. 

Y  Bardd  Teulu,  or  Court  Bard  (an  appointment 
from  which  that  of  our  poet  laureate  probably  origin- 
ated) on  receiving  his  commission,  was  presented 
by  the  king  with  a  silver  harp,  by  the  queen  with  a 
gold  ring.  He  held  the  eighth  place  at  Court.  He 
possessed  his  land  free.  At  the  three  great  festivals 
of  the  year,  Christmas,  Easter,  and  Whitsuntide,  he 


3folfe*%ore.  193 

sat  at  the  prince's  table.  On  these  occasions,  he 
was  entitled  to  have  the  disdains  or  steward-of-the- 
household's  garment  for  his  fee.  In  addition  to  these 
perquisites,  the  king  found  him  in  woolen  robes,  and 
the  queen  in  linen,  and  he  received  a  present  from 
every  maiden  when  she  married,  but  nothing  at  the 
bridal  feasts  of  women  who  had  been  married  before. 

At  regal  feasts  the  guests  were  placed  in  threes; 
a  tune  called  Gosteg yr  Halen,  "the  prelude  of  the 
salt,"  was  sung  as  the  salt-cellar  was  placed  before 
the  king,  and  as  they  were  served  with  meats,  &c, 
upon  platters  of  clean  grass  and  rushes,  the  harp 
played  all  the  while. 

When  a  song  was  called  for  after  the  feast,  the 
Oadeir-fardd,  or  the  bard  who  possessed  the  badge 
of-the-chair  sang  a  hymn  to  the  glory  of  God,  and 
then  another  in  honor  of  the  king.  After  which, 
the  Teuluwr,  or  Bard  of  the  Hall  sang  upon  some 
other  subject. 

If  the  queen  wished  for  a  song  after  she  had  re- 
tired to  her  apartment,  the  Teuluwr,  might  sing  to 
her,  but  in  a  low  voice,  lest  he  disturb  the  other 
performers  in  the  hall. 

If  a  Bard  desired  a  favor  of  the  king,  he  was 
obliged  to  play  one  of  his  own  compositions;  if  of  a 
nobleman,  three;  and  if  of  a  villain,  till  he  was  ex- 
hausted. 


194  jfolk*Xore. 

His  person  was  held  so  sacred  that  whoever 
slightly  injured  him  was  fined  vi  cows  and  cxx  pence, 
and  the  murderer  of  a  Bard  was  fined  cxxvi  cows. 
The  worst  murder  in  those  days,  like  criminal  con- 
versations in  the  present  age,  only  needed  pecuniary 
atonement 

On  a  plundering  expedition,  the  Bard  received  a 
large  portion  of  the  spoil.  He  preceded  the  war- 
riors to  battle,  reciting  a  poem  called  Unbenaeth 
Prydain,  "the  glory  of  Britain." 

An  edict  was  issued  by  King  Edward  I.  author- 
izing the  massacre  of  the  Bards,  one  of  them  having 
prophesied  the  liberation  of  Wales.  The  murder  of 
the  last  Bard  has  been  beautifully  described  by  Gray 
in  one  of  his  poems. 

Queen  Elizabeth  also  issued  a  proclamation,  but 
of  a  less  sanguinary  character  against  certain  wan- 
dering minstrels,  who  appear  to  have  been  among 
the  musicians  of  those  days  what  quacks  are  among 
our  modern  M.  D.'s.  It  also  commissioned  certain 
gentlemen  to  inquire  into  the  various  capabilities  of 
the  Welsh  Bards,  and  to  license  those  who  were 
most  fit  to  represent  the  musical  talent  of  their 
country. 

This  profound  question  was  settled  at  an  Eistedd- 
fod, or  a  musical  meeting  of  the  Bard  who  contested 
once  a  year  for  a  silver  harp.     This  practice  which 


jfolfe^OLore.  195 

had  existed  from  time  immemorial  is  still  continued 
in  Wales,  and  the  transactions  of  the  Abcfffraw 
Royal  Eisteddfod  were  published  in  the  year  1849. 

1  know  little  of  the  peculiar  character  of  Welsh 
music  except  that  it  is  executed  mostly  in  b  flat. 
Part-singing  may  be  considered  as  a  peculiarity  of 
the  Welsh  bards.  Extempore  performances  were 
common  to  all  the  ancient  minstrels  of  the  world. 

A  kind  of  extempore  composition  is  still  exercised 
among  the  Welsh  peasantry,  and  is  called  Penillion 
singing.  The  harper  being  seated,  plays  one  of  his 
native  airs  while  the  singers  stand  round  him  and 
alternately  compose  a  stanza  upon  any  subject  they 
please. 

There  are  many  clerwyr>  or  wandering  minstrels 
still  in  Wales.  Like  their  predecessors,  they  are  in 
the  habit  of  going  from  house  to  house,  and  of  offici- 
ating, as  our  gypsy  fiddlers  do  at  all  rustic  festivals 
and  weddings. 

They  have  a  curious  tradition,  that  Madoc,  a 
brother  of  one  of  the  Kings  of  Wales,  sailed  from 
that  country  in  the  year  1 1 7 1  a.  d.  and  was  the  first 
European  settler  in  Mexico.  Sir  Thomas  Herbert 
who  wrote  a  scarce  book  of  travels  in  1665,  mentions 
it  as  a  fact,  and  in  Hackett's  Collection  of  Epitaphs 
(1757)  is  this  one: — 


196  jfolfe^Xore* 

FOUND  AT  MEXICO. 

"  Madoc  wyf  mwydic  ei  wedd 
lawn  genan  Owain  Gwynedd 
Ni  fynnwn  dir  fy  awydd  oedd 
Na  da  mawrond  y  Moroedd." 

"  Madoc  I  am — mild  in  countenance 
Of  the  right  line  of  Owen  Gwynedd 
I  wished  not  for  land  ;  my  bent  was 
For  no  great  riches,  but  for  the  seas. 

We  have  it  on  the  authority  of  a  Captain  Davies, 
and  Lieutenant  Roberts  of  Hawcorden  in  Flintshire, 
and  from  a  MS.  entry  in  William  Penn's  journal, 
evidence  collected  by  the  famous  Dr.  Owen  Pughe, 
that  the  tribes  of  the  Illinois,  Madocautes,  the  Pa- 
doucas  and  Mud  Indians  spoke  the  Welsh  language. 

Without  entering  into  a  useless  dissertation  upon 
this  subject,  I  will  note  a  curious  custom  in  which 
the  American  Indians  resemble  the  Welsh,  viz.,  in 
the  habit  of  carrying  their  canoes  upon  their  backs 
from  rapid  to  rapid.  Giraldus  Cambrensis  informs 
us  that  the  Welsh  used  to  carry  their  triangular 
boats  from  river  to  river,  which  occasioned  a  famous 
dealer,  named  Bledherc,  to  say:  "There  is  amongst 
us  a  people  who  when  they  go  out  in  search  of  prey 
carry  their  horses  on  their  backs  to  the  place  of 
plunder;  in  order  to  catch  their  prey,  they  leap  upon 
their  horses,  and  when  it  is  taken,  carry  their  horses 
home  again  upon  their  shoulders." 

They  worshipped  the  same  symbols  of  God  as  the 


ffolfe*£ore,  i97 

ancient  British — the  sun,  the  moon,  fire,  water,  the 
serpent,  the  cross,  &c,  and  in  the  course  of  this 
chapter  I  shall  mention  other  customs  common  to 
both  nations. 

Among  the  peasantry  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
there  are  observed  not  only  those  traditional  cus- 
toms which  are  meaningless  because  they  are  out  of 
date,  but  actual  idolatries. 

It  may  surprise  the  reader  that  the  worship  of  fire 
with  which  our  preachers  and  tract-writers  jeer  the 
inhabitants  of  Persia,  is  not  yet  extinct  among  us. 

Spenser  says  that  the  Irish  never  lighted  a  fire 
without  uttering  a  prayer.  In  some  parts  of  Eng- 
land it  is  considered  unlucky  for  the  fire  to  go  out. 
They  have  a  peculiar  fuel  with  which  they  feed  it 
during  the  night.  The  Scotch  peat-fires  are  seldom 
allowed  to  die  out. 

There  are  three  days  in  the  year  on  which  the 
worship  of  fire  is  especially  observed — May-day, 
Midsummer  Eve  and  Allhallow  E'en. 

On  the  first  of  May  which  is  called  Beltan,  or 
Beltein-Day  from  the  Druidic  Bellenus,  the  Phoenician 
Baal,  the  Highland  herdsmen  assemble  on  a  moor. 
They  cut  a  table  in  the  sod,  of  a  round  figure,  by 
casting  a  trench  in  the  ground  of  such  circumference 
as  to  hold  the  whole  company.     They  kindle  a  wood 


i  g8  jfolfe^Xore. 

fire  and  dress  a  large  caudle  of  eggs,  butter,  oatmeal 
and  milk,  taking  care  to  be  supplied  with  plenty  of 
beer  and  whiskey  as  well.  The  rites  begin  with 
spilling  some  of  the  caudle  on  the  ground  by  way  of 
a  libation;  on  that,  every  one  takes  a  cake  of  oat- 
meal, upon  which  are  raised  nine  square  knobs,  each 
dedicated  to  some  particular  being,  the  supposed 
preserver  of  their  flocks  and  herbs,  or  to  some  par- 
ticular animal  the  real  destroyer  of  them.  Each 
person  then  turns  his  face  to  the  fire,  breaks  off  a 
knob  and  flinging  it  over  his  shoulder,  says:  This  I 
give  to  thee,  preserve  thou  my  horses;  this  I  give  to 
thee,  preserve  thou  my  sheep,  and  so  on.  After  that, 
they  use  the  same  ceremony  to  the  noxious  animals. 
This  I  give  to  thee,  oh  fox  f  spare  thou  my  lambs  ! 
this  to  thee,  oh  hooded  crow ;  this  to  thee,  oh  eagle  / 

They  then  knead  another  cake  of  oatmeal  which 
is  toasted  at  the  embers  against  a  stone.  They 
divide  this  cake  into  so  many  portions  (as  similar  as 
possible  to  each  other  in  size  and  shape)  as  there 
are  persons  in  the  company.  They  daub  one  of 
these  portions  all  over  with  charcoal  until  it  is  quite 
black.  They  put  all  the  bits  into  a  bonnet  and 
every  one,  blind-folded,  draws.  He  who  holds  the 
bonnet  is  entitled  to  the  last  bit.  Whoever  draws 
the  black  morsel  is  the  devoted  person  who  is  to  be 
sacrificed  to  Baal,  and  is  compelled  to  leap  three 


3Folfe*%ore.  199 

times  through  the  fire,  after  which  they  dine  on  the 
caudle. 

When  the  feast  is  finished,  the  remains  are  con- 
cealed by  two  persons  deputed  for  that  purpose,  and 
on  the  next  Sunday  they  re-assemble  and  finish  it. 

This,  you  see,  is  a  relic  of  the  Druidic  human 
sacrifices  as  well  as  of  their  fire-worship.  I  will  give 
two  more  examples  of  the  former. 

I  have  noticed  the  custom  of  the  Druids  in  great 
extremities  of  constructing  a  large  wicker  engine,  of 
filling  it  with  sheep,  oxen  and  sometimes  men,  and 
setting  light  to  it,  as  a  mammoth  sacrifice.  Dr. 
Milner  in  his  History  of  Winchester,  informs  us  that 
at  Dunkirk  and  at  Douay  there  has  existed  an  im- 
memorial custom  of  constructing  huge  figures  of 
wicker-work  and  canvas,  and  moving  them  about  to 
represent  a  giant  that  was  killed  by  their  patron 
saint.  And  St.  Foix,  in  his  Essay  on  Paris,  describes 
a  custom  which  is  not  yet  abolished  in  some  of  the 
small  towns  in  France,  viz.,  for  the  mayors  on  the 
Eve  of  St.  John  to  put  into  a  large  basket  a  dozen  or 
two  cats,  and  to  throw  them  into  one  of  the  festive 
bonfires  lighted  upon  that  occasion. 

To  return  to  May  Day.  In  Munster  and  Con- 
naught  the  Irish  peasants  drive  their  cattle  between 
two  fires,  as  if  for  purposes  of  purification.  In  some 
parts  of  Scotland  they  light  a  fire  to  feast  by,  and 


200  ffolfc*%ore. 

having  thrown  a  portion  of  their  refreshments  into 
the  flames  as  a  propitiatory  sacrifice,  deck  branches 
of  mountain-ash  with  wreaths  of  flowers  and  heather, 
and  walk  three  times  round  it  in  a  procession. 

Precisely  the  same  custom  is  observed  by  the 
natives  of  America  and  at  the  same  period,  i.  e.,  that 
of  the  vernal  equinox. 

In  India  there  is  a  festival  in  honor  of  Bhavani 
(a  Priapic  personification  of  nature  and  fecundity), 
which  the  Hindoos  commemorate  by  erecting  a  pole 
in  the  fields,  and  by  adorning  it  with  pendants  and 
flowers  round  which  the  young  people  dance  precisely 
the  same  as  in  England. 

The  Jews  also  keep  a  solar  festival  at  the  vernal 
equinox,  on  which  occasion  the  Paschal  lamb  is 
sacrificed. 

The  Floridians  and  Mexicans  erect  a  tree  in  the 
centre  of  their  sacred  enclosures  around  which  they 
dance. 

On  May  Eve  the  Cornish  erect  stumps  of  trees 
before  their  doors.  On  the  first  of  the  month  the 
famous  May-pole  is  raised,  adorned  with  flowers  and 
encircled  by  the  pretty  country  lasses  who  little  know 
of  what  this  pole,  or  §aXko<;  is  an  emblem. 

On  Midsummer  Eve  an  involuntary  tribute  is  paid 
by  the  peasants  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  to  the 
shades  of  their  ancient  priests,  and  to  the   Gods 


3folfe=%ore.  201 

whom  they  worshipped,  by  lighting  bonfires.  The 
word  bonfire,  I  may  observe,  is  by  some  called  bone- 
fire  because  they  believe  (without  any  particular 
reason),  that  their  fuel  consisted  of  bones;  by  others 
boon-fire,  because  the  wood  was  obtained  by  begging. 
Utrum  horum  marvis  accipe. 

The  cooks  of  Newcastle  lighted  fires  on  Mid- 
summer Day  in  the  streets  of  that  town;  the  custom 
is  general  almost  all  over  Ireland,  and  as  late  as  the 
year  1786,  the  custom  of  lighting  fires  was  continued 
in  the  Druidic  Temple  at  Bramham,  near  Harrow- 
gate  in  Yorkshire,  on  the  eve  of  the  summer  solstice. 

In  the  Cornish  tongue,  Midsummer  is  called  Go- 
luany  which  means  light  and  rejoicing.  At  that 
season,  the  natives  make  a  procession  through  the 
towns  or  villages  with  lighted  torches. 

The  Irish  dance  round  these  fires,  and  sometimes 
fathers,  taking  their  children  in  their  arms,  will  run 
through  the  flames. 

In  Hindostan  it  is  the  mother  who  performs  this 
office 

On  all  sacred  days  among  the  Druids,  they  re- 
sorted to  their  different  kinds  of  divination,  and  I 
should  tire  the  reader  were  I  to  enumerate  half  the 
charms  and  incantations  which  are  made  use  of  in 
the  country  on  Midsummer  Eve. 

I  have  always  remarked  that   those  divinations 


202  tfolfe^Xore. 

which  were  probably  used  by  priests  to  foretell  the 
fate  of  a  kingdom,  or  to  decide  upon  the  life  or  death 
of  a  human  being,  have  now  become  mere  methods 
of  love  prophecies  with  village  sweethearts. 

One  will  sow  hemp-seed  on  Midsummer  Eve, 
saying,  Hemp-seed  I  sow,  hemp-seed  I  hoe,  and  he  that 
is  my  true  love  come  after  me  and  mow.  She  will  then 
turn  round,  and  expects  to  see  the  young  man  who 
will  marry  her. 

Another  will  pick  a  kind  of  root  which  grows 
under  mug-wort,  and  which,  if  pulled  exactly  at 
midnight  on  the  Eve  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  and 
placed  under  her  pillow,  will  give  her  a  dream  of  her 
future  husband. 

Another  will  place  over  her  head  the  orphine- 
plant,  commonly  called  Midsummer -men:  the  bend- 
ing of  the  leaves  to  the  riadit  or  to  the  left  will  tell 
her  whether  her  husband  was  true  or  false. 

Bourne  cites  from  the  Trullan  Council  a  species 
of  divination,  so  singular,  that  it  is  impossible  to 
read  it  without  being  reminded  of  the  Pythoness  on 
her  tripod,  or  the  Druidess  on  her  seat  of  stone. 

"  On  the  23rd  of  June,  which  is  the  Eve  of  St. 
John  the  Baptist,  men  and  women  were  accustomed 
to  gather  together  in  the  evening  at  the  sea-side  or 
in  certain  houses,  and  there  adorn  a  girl  who  was 
her  father's  first- begotten  child  after  the  manner  of 


3foife*%ore.  203 

a  bride.  Then  they  feasted  and  leaped  after  the 
manner  of  Bacchanals,  and  danced  and  shouted  as 
they  were  wont  to  do  on  their  holy-days;  after  this, 
they  poured  into  a  narrow-necked  vessel  some  of 
the  sea-water,  and  also  put  into  it  certain  things 
belonging  to  each  of  them.  Then  as  if  the  devil 
gifted  the  girl  with  the  faculty  of  telling  future  things, 
they  would  enquire  with  a  loud  voice  about  the 
good  or  evil  fortune  that  should  attend  them;  upon 
this  the  girl  took  out  of  the  vessel  the  first  thing 
that  came  to  hand  and  showed  it,  and  gave  it  to  the 
owner,  who,  upon  receiving  it,  was  so  foolish  as  to 
imagine  himself  wiser,  as  to  the  good  or  evil  fortune 
that  should  attend  him." 

The  Druidic  vervain  was  held  in  estimation  on  this 
day  as  we  read  in    Ye  Popish  Kingdome. 

Then  doth  ye  joyful  feast  of  John  ye  Baptist  take  his  turne, 
When  bonfiers  great  with  lofty  flame  in  every  town  doe  burne, 
And  young  men  round  about  with  maides  doe  dance  in  every  streete, 
With  garlands  wrought  of  mother-wort,  or  else  with  verwain  sweete. 

The  following  extract  from  the  Calendar  of  the 
Romish  Church,  shows  us  what  doings  there  used  to 
be  at  Rome  on  the  Eve  and  Day  of  St.  John  the 
Baptist — the  Roman  Pales — the  Druidic  Belenus. 

JUNE. 
23.       The  Virgil  of  the  Nativity  of  John  the  Baptist. 
Spices  are  given  at  Vespers. 
Fires  are  lighted  up. 

A  girl  with  a  little  drum  that  proclaims  the  garland. 
Boys  are  dressed  in  girl's  clothes. 


204  ffolfe^Xore. 

Carols  to  the  liberal:  imprecations  against  the  avaricious. 
Waters  are  swum  in  during  the  night,  and  are  brought  in  vessels 

that  hang  for  purposes  of  divination. 
Fern  in  great  estimation  with  the  vulgar  on  account  of  its  seed. 
Herbs  of  different  kinds  are  sought  with  many  ceremonies. 
Girl's  Thistle  is  gathered,  and  a  hundred  crosses  by  the  same. 
24.       The  Nativity  of  John  the  Baptist. 
Dew  and  new  leaves  in  estimation. 
The  vulgar  solstice. 

It  was  on  Hallow-E'en  that  the  Druids  used  to 
compel  their  subjects  to  extinguish  their  fires,  which, 
when  the  annual  dues  were  paid,  were  relighted 
from  that  holy  fire  which  burnt  in  the  clachan  of  the 
Druids,  and  which  never  died. 

Even  now  all  fires  are  extinguished  on  Hallow- 
E'en,  and  a  fire  being  made  by  rubbing  two  sticks 
together  they  are  relighted  from  that,  and  from  that 
alone. 

The  same  custom  is  observed  among  the  Cherokee 
Indians. 

At  the  village  of  Findern  in  Derbyshire,  the  boys 
and  girls  go  every  year  on  the  2nd  of  November 
and  light  a  number  of  small  fires  among  the  furze 
growing  there,  which  they  call  Tindles.  They  can 
give  no  reason  for  so  doing. 

Throughout  the  United  Kingdom  there  are  similar 
divining  customs  observed  to  those  which  I  have 
just  described  as  exercised  on  Midsummer  Eve. 

There  are  miscellaneous  vestiges  of  fire-worship 
besides  those  already  noticed. 


3folfe*%ore.  205 

In  Oxfordshire  revels,  young  women  will  some- 
times tuck  their  skirts  (twisting  them  in  an  ingenious 
manner  round  the  ankles,  and  holding  the  ends  in 
front  of  them)  into  a  very  good  resemblance  of 
men's  trousers,  and  dance  round  a  candle  placed 
upon  the  floor,  concluding  by  leaping  over  it  three 
times.  The  name  of  this  dance,  too  coarse  to  be 
written  here,  as  the  dance  is  to  be  described,  betrays 
its  phallic  origin. 

Then  there  is  the  "Dance  round  our  coal  fire" 
an  ancient  practice  of  dancing  round  the  fires  in  the 
Inns  of  Court,  which  was  observed  in  1733,  at  an 
entertainment  at  the  Inner  Temple  Hall  on  Lord 
Chancellor  Talbot's  taking  leave  of  the  house,  when 
"the  Master  of  the  Revels  took  the  Chancellor  by 
the  hand,  and  he  Mr.  Page,  who  with  the  Judges, 
Serjeants  and  Benchers  danced  round  the  Coal 
Fire,  according  to  the  old  ceremony  three  times; 
and  all  the  time  the  ancient  sone  with  music  was 
sung  by  a  man  in  a  bar  gown." 

Last  and  most  singular  of  all  the  Tinegin,  or  need- 
fire  of  the  Highlanders. 

To  defeat  sorceries,  certain  persons  appointed  to 
do  so  are  sent  to  raise  the  need-fire.  By  any  small 
river  or  lake,  or  upon  any  island  a  circular  booth  of 
turf  or  stone  is  erected,  on  which  a  rafter  of  birch- 
tree  is  placed  and  the  roof  covered  over.     In  the 


206  ffolfe^Xore. 

centre  is  set  a  perpendicular  post,  fixed  by  a  wooden 
pin  to  the  couple,  the  lower  end  being  placed  in  an 
oblong  groove  on  the  floor,  and  another  pole  placed 
horizontally  between  the  upright  post  and  the  leg  of 
the  couple  into  both  of  which  the  ends  being  tapered 
are  inserted.  This  horizontal  timber  is  called  the 
auger,  being  provided  with  four  short  spokes  by 
which  it  can  be  turned.  As  many  men  as  can  be 
collected  are  then  set  to  work.  Having  divested 
themselves  of  all  kinds  of  metals,  they  turn  the  pole 
two  at  a  time  by  means  of  the  levers,  while  others 
keep  driving  wedges  under  the  upright  post  so  as  to 
p'-ess  it  against  the  auger,  which  by  the  friction  soon 
becomes  ignited.  From  this  the  need-fire  is  instantly 
procured,  and  all  other  fires  being  quenched,  those 
that  are  rekindled  both  in  dwelling  houses  and  offices 
are  accounted  sacred,  and  the  diseased  and  bewitched 
cattle  are  successively  made  to  smell  them. 

This  contrivance  is  elaborate  and  its  description 
not  unnaturally  awkward.  It  is  however  worthy  of 
remark  that  in  the  initiation  of  Freemasons  all 
metals  are  taken  from  them. 

Water  was  worshipped  by  the  Druids,  and  was 
used  by  them  for  purification.  The  Welsh  peasan- 
try hold  sacred  the  rain-water  which  lodges  in  the 
crevices  of  their  cromleachs  or  altars,  and  the  Irish 


tfolft^Xore.  207 

proverb  "  To  take  a  dip  in  the  Shannon,"  would 
seem  to  show  that  its  waters  were  held  in  the  same 
superstitious  reverence  as  are  those  of  the  Ganges 
by  the  natives  of  Hindostan. 

The  Druids  besprinkled  themselves  with  dew  when 
they  went  to  sacrifice,  and  it  is  a  belief  among-  the 
English  lasses  that  those  who  bathe  their  faces  in 
the  dew  on  May  Day  morning  will  have  beautiful 
complexions. 

It  is  a  belief  in  Oxfordshire  that  to  cure  a  man 
bitten  by  a  mad  dog,  he  should  be  taken  to  the  sea 
and  dipped  therein  nine  times. 

The  regard  still  paid,  however,  to  wells  and  foun- 
tains by  the  peasantry  is  the  most  extraordinary 
feature  of  water- worship.  In  the  early  ages  it  pre- 
vailed with  such  strength,  that  the  Roman  Catholics 
fearing  to  combat  the  custom  christianized  it  by 
giving  the  holy  wells  the  names  of  popular  saints, 
and  by  enjoining  pilgrimages  after  the  Pagan  fashion 
to  their  shrine. 

In  some  parts  of  England  it  is  still  customary  to 
decorate  these  wells  with  boughs  of  trees,  garlands 
of  tulips,  and  other  flowers  placed  in  various  fancied 
devices. 

At  one  time,  indeed  it  was  the  custom  on  Holy 
Thursday,  after  the  service  for  the  day  at  the  church, 


208  jfolfe*%ore. 

for  the  clergyman  and  singers  to  pray  and  sing 
psalms  at  these  wells. 

Pilgrimages  are  still  made  by  invalids  among  the 
poor  Irish  to  wells,  whose  waters  are  supposed  to 
possess  medicinal  properties  under  the  influence  of 
some  beneficent  saint. 

The  well  of  Strathfillan  in  Scotland  is  also  resorted 
to  at  certain  periods  of  the  year.  The  water  of  the 
well  of  Trinity  Gask  in  Perthshire  is  supposed  to 
cure  any  one  seized  with  the  plague.  In  many  parts 
of  Wales  the  water  used  for  the  baptismal  font  is 
fetched  from  these  holy  wells. 

Not  only  a  reverence,  but  actual  sacrifices  are 
offered  to  some  of  these  wells  and  to  the  saints  which 
preside  over  them,  or  to  the  spirits  which  are  sup- 
posed to  inhabit  them. 

In  a  quillet,  called  Gwern  Degla,  near  the  village 
of  Llandegla  in  Wales  there  is  a  small  spring.  The 
water  is  under  the  tutelage  of  St.  Tecla  and  is  es- 
teemed a  sovereign  remedy  for  the  falling  sickness. 
The  patient  washes  his  limbs  in  the  well,  makes  an 
offering  into  it  of  fourpence,  walks  round  it  three 
times,  and  thrice  repeats  the  Lord's  prayer.  If  a 
man,  he  sacrifices  a  cock;  if  a  woman  a  hen.  The 
fowl  is  carried  in  a  basket  first  round  the  well,  after 
that  into  the  churchyard  and  round  the  church. 
The  votary  then  enters  the  church,  gets  under  the 


3folfe=%ore.  209 

communion  table,  lies  down  with  the  Bible  under  his 
head,  is  covered  with  a  cloth  and  rests  there  till 
break  of  day.  When  he  departs,  he  offers  sixpence 
and  leaves  the  fowl  in  the  church.  If'the  bird  dies, 
the  cure  is  supposed  to  have  been  affected  and  the 
disease  transferred  to  the  devoted  victim. 

The  custom  of  sticking  bits  of  rag  on  thorns  near 
these  wells  is  inexplicable,  as  it  is  universal.  Be- 
tween the  walls  of  Alten  and  Newton,  near  the  foot 
of  Rosberrye  Toppinge,  there  is  a  well  dedicated  to 
St.  Oswald.  The  neighbors  have  a  belief  that  a 
shirt  or  shift  taken  off  a  sick  person  and  thrown  into 
the  well  will  prognosticate  his  fate.  If  it  floats  the 
person  will  recover,  if  it  sinks  he  will  die.  And  to 
reward  the  saint  for  his  intelligence,  they  tear  a  rag 
off  the  shirt  and  leave  it  hanging  on  the  briars  there- 
abouts, "where"  says  Grose,  citing  a  MS.  in  the 
Cotton  Library,  marked  Julius  F.  vi.  "  I  have  seen 
such  numbers  as  might  have  made  a  fayre  rheme  in 
a  paper  my  II" 

That  the  Highlanders  still  believe  in  spirits  which 
inhabit  their  lakes  is  easily  proved.  In  Strathspey 
there  is  a  lake  called  Loch  nan  Spiordan,  the  Lake 
of  Spirits.  When  its  waters  are  agitated  by  the 
wind  and  its  spray  mounts  whirling  in  the  air,  they 
believe  that  it  is  the  anger  of  this  spirit  whom  they 
name  Martach  Shine,  or  the  Rider  of  the  Storm. 


210  jfolfe=Xore. 

The  Well  of  St.  Keyne  in  the  parish  of  St.  Keyne, 
in  Cornwall,  is  supposed  to  possess  a  curious  property 
which  is  humorously  explained  in  the  following 
verses  :- 

THE  WELL  OF  ST.  KEYNE. 

A  well  there  is  in  the  west  country, 
And  a  clearer  one  never  was  seen  — 
There  is  not  a  wife  in  the  west  country 
But  has  heard  of  the  Well  of  St.  Keyne. 

An  oak  and  an  elm  tree  stand  beside, 
And  behind  doth  an  ash  tree  grow, 
And  a  willow  from  the  bank  above 
Droops  to  the  water  below. 

A  traveler  came  to  the  Well  of  St.  Keyne, 
Pleasant  it  was  to  his  eye  ; 
For  from  cock-crow  he  had  been  traveling, 
A.nd  there  was  not  a  cloud  in  the  sky. 

He  drank  of  the  water  so  cool  and  clear, 
For  thirsty  and  hot  was  he  ; 
And  he  sat  him  down  upon  the  bank, 
Under  the  willow  tree. 

There  came  a  man  from  a  neighboring  town, 
At  the  well  to  fill  his  pail; 
On  the  well-side  he  rested  it, 
And  bade  the  stranger  hail. 

Now,  art  thou  a  bachelor,  stranger?  quoth  he, 
For  an  if  thou  hast  a  wife, 
The  happiest  draught  thou  hast  drank  this  day 
That  ever  thou  didst  in  thy  life. 

Or  has  your  good  woman,  if  one  you  have, 

In  Cornwall  ever  been  ? 
For  an  if  she  have,  I'll  venture  my  life, 
She  has  drunk  of  the  Well  of  St.  Keyne. 

I  have  left  a  good  woman  who  never  was  here, 
The  stranger  he  made  reply; 
But  that  my  draught  should  be  better  for  that, 
I  pray  thee  tell  me  why. 


lfolfe=%ore.  211 

St.  Keyne,  quoth  the  countryman,  many  a  time, 

Drank  of  this  chrystal  well; 

And  before  the  angel  summoned  her, 

She  laid  on  the  water  a  spell. 

If  the  husband,  (of  this  gifted  well), 
Shall  drink  before  his  wife, 
A  happy  man  thenceforth  is  he, 
For  he  shall  be  master  for  life. 

But  if  the  wife  should  drink  of  it  first, 

God  help  the  husband  then  ! 

The  stranger  stooped  to  the  well  of  St.  Keyne, 

And  drank  of  its  waters  again. 

You  drank  of  the  well  I  warrant  betimes? 

He  to  the  countryman  said, 

But  the  countryman  smiled  as  the  stranger  spoke, 

And  sheepishly  shook  his  head. 

I  hastened  as  soon  as  the  wedding  was  done. 
And  left  my  wife  in  the  porch, 
But  i 'faith  I  found  her  wiser  than  me, 
For  she  took  a  bottle  to  church. 

I  must  not  omit  to  mention  a  method  of  divination 
by  water,  which  is  practiced  at  Madern  Well  in  the 
parish  of  Madern,  and  at  the  well  of  St.  Ennys,  in 
the  parish  of  Sancred,  Cornwall.  At  a  certain  period 
of  the  year,  moon  or  day,  come  the  uneasy,  impatient 
and  superstitious,  and  by  dropping  pins  or  pebbles 
into  die  water,  and  by  shaking  the  ground  round  the 
spring  so  as  to  raise  bubbles  from  the  bottom,  en- 
deavor to  predict  the  future.  This  practice  is  not 
indigenous  to  Britain.  The  Castalian  fountain  in 
Greece  was  supposed  to  be  of  a  prophetic  nature. 
By  dipping  a  mirror  into  a  well  the  Patrseans  received, 
as  they   supposed,  omens  of  ensuing  sickness   or 


212  tfolft^Xore. 

health  from  the  figures  portrayed  upon  its  surface. 
In  Laconia,  they  cast  into  a  lake,  sacred  to  Juno, 
three  stones,  and  drew  prognostications  from  the 
several  turns  which  they  made  in  sinking. 

I  will  translate  at  length  a  pretty  French  story 
which  I  have  met  with,  and  which  will  adorn  as  well 
as  illustrate  the  present  subject. 

THE  LEGEND  OF  THE  PIN. 

In  the  West  of  France  the  pin  is  endowed  with 
a  fabulous  power,  which  is  not  without  a  certain 
interest.  One  of  its  supposed  attributes  is  the  power 
of  attracting  lovers  to  her  who  possess  it,  after  it  has 
been  used  in  the  toilet  of  a  bride.  Consequently  it 
is  a  curious  sight  in  La  Vendee  or  Les  Deux-Sevres, 
to  see  all  the  peasant  girls  anxiously  placing  a  pin 
in  the  bride's  dress:  the  number  being  often  so  con- 
siderable that  she  is  forced  to  have  a  pin -cushion 
attached  to  her  waist-band  to  receive  all  the  prickly 
charms.  At  night,  on  the  threshold  of  the  bridal 
chamber,  she  is  surrounded  by  her  companions,  each 
one  easily  seizing  upon  the  charmed  pin,  which  is 
kept  as  a  sacred  relic. 

In  Brittany  the  pin  is  regarded  as  the  guardian  of 
chastity,  a  mute  witness  which  will  one  day  stand 
forth  to  applaud  or  condemn  in  the  following  man- 
ner : — 


'  jfolft*%ore.  213 

Some  days  before  the  wedding,  the  betrothed 
leads  his  future  bride  to  the  edge  of  some  mysterious 
current  of  water,  and  taking  one  of  her  pins  drops 
it  into  the  water.  If  it  swims,  the  girl's  innocence 
is  incontestable — if  on  the  contrary  it  sinks  to  the 
bottom,  it  is  considered  the  judgment  of  heaven;  it 
is  an  accusation  which  no  evidence  can  overcome. 
But  as  the  peasant  girls  in  Brittany  never  use  any 
pins  heavier  than  the  long  blackthorn,  which  they 
find  in  the  hedges,  the  severity  of  the  tribunal  is  not 
very  formidable. 

On  the  7th  of  December,  a  young  peasant  mounted 
on  a  strong  cob,  full  of  hope  and  gaiety,  was  seen 
urging  his  way  towards  Morlaix  with  a  handsome 
girl  of  twenty  on  a  pillion  behind  him,  her  arm  ten- 
derly clasping  his  waist.  It  was  easy  to  see  in  their 
happy  faces  that  they  were  two  lovers,  and  from  the 
direction  which  they  took,  that  they  were  going  on 
a  pilgrimage  to  try  the  charm  of  the  pin  at  the 
fountain  of  St.  Douet.  Jean's  father  was  one  of  the 
richest  land-holders  in  the  neighborhood,  but  above 
all  the  young  ladies  round  him,  he  had  chosen  Mar- 
garet, whose  sole  wealth  consisted  in  her  beauty  and 
virtue. 

Through  all  the  glades  of  the  wood  with  wild 
thyme  and  violets  beneath  their  horses  feet,  they 
journeyed  on  till  they  came  to  a  wild  and  deserted 


214  jfolfe^Xore. 

plain,  whence  they  plunged  once  more  into  the  dark 
forests  of  Finisterre  filled  with  Druidical  memories. 
It  nwht  have  been  those  sombre  shades  which  sad- 
dened  them  for  a  moment,  but  it  was  only  for  a 
moment.  Jean  feared  not  the  trial,  for  he  loved 
Margaret,  and  believed  her  to  be  an  angel.  And 
Margaret  feared  it  not,  for  she  knew  that  she  was 
innocent. 

Now  they  were  close  to  the  sacred  fountain,  which 
burst  through  the  crevices  of  a  rock  overgrown  with 
moss  into  a  natural  bason,  and  thence  like  a  thread 
of  silver  through  the  forest. 

They  dismounted,  and  Margaret,  kneeling  down, 
prayed  fervently  for  some  moments.  Then  rising, 
she  gave  her  left  hand  to  her  lover,  and  full  of  con- 
fidence, advanced  toward  the  well.  Alas !  she  had 
too  much  faith  in  the  virtue  of  the  legend.  Instead 
of  a  thorn  pin,  she  took  from  a  neckerchief  one  with 
a  silver  head  which  he  had  given  her.  He  pressed 
her  fingers  affectionately  as  he  took  it  from  her  hand 
and  dropped  it  into  the  well.  It  disappeared  instan- 
taneously. Margaret  sank  to  the  ground  with  a 
heart-broken  groan. 

He  raised  her  and  placed  her  on  his  horse,  but  he 
did  not  speak  to  her,  he  did  not  caress  her.  In 
mournful  silence  he  walked  by  her  side.  Her  arm 
could  no   longer  embrace  him.     She   was  not  his 


jfolft^Xore.  215 

Margaret  now.  She  was  a  guilty  wretch  who  had 
dared  to  tempt  the  judgment  of  God. 

He  placed  her  down  at  her  father's  door,  and 
stooping  he  kissed  her  on  the  forehead.  It  was  a 
silent  adieu  he  was  bidding  her;  it  was  his  last  kiss 
— it  was  the  kiss  of  death. 

Next  morning  her  corpse  was  found  underneath 
his  window.  There  were  no  marks  of  violence  upon 
her  body;  the  wound  was  in  her  heart;  she  had  died 
a  victim  to  a  destestable  superstition. 

To  the  element  of  air  we  do  not  find  our  peasants 
pay  any  particular  homage,  unless  the  well-known 
practice  of  sailors  of  whistling  for  the  wind  in  a  dead 
calm,  and  of  the  Cornish  laborers  when  enp-ao-ed  in 
winnowing  may  be  regarded  as  such. 

But  the  worship  of  the  heavenly  bodies  has  not 
yet  died  out  among  us.  The  astrologists  of  the 
middle  ages  were  but  copyists  of  the  ancient  Chal- 
deans, and  the  lower  classes  to  this  day  draw  omens 
from  meteors  and  falling  stars.  General  Vallancey, 
by  the  way,  records  a  curious  instance  in  his  Collect- 
anea de  rebus  Hibernicis,  of  an  Irish  peasant  who 
could  neither  read  nor  write  but  who  could  calculate 
eclipses. 

When  we  consider  how  universal  and  how  prom- 
inent was  the  worship  of  the  sun  in  the  world,  it  is 


2i6  jfolfe*Xore. 

almost  surprising  that  we  do  not  find  more  vestiges 
of  this  idolatry.     There  are  some  few  however. 

It  was  once  a  custom  of  the  vulgar  to  rise  early 
on  Easter  Day  to  see  the  sun  dance,  for  they  fancied 
that  the  reflection  of  its  beams  played  or  danced  upon 
the  waters  of  any  spring  or  lake  they  might  look 

into. 

In  the  British  Apollo,  fol.  Lond.  1708,  vol.  i.  No. 

40,  we  read: 

Q.    Old  wives,  Phoebus,  say 
That  on  Easter  day, 

To  the  music  o'  the  spheres  you  do  caper, 
If  the  fact,  sir,  be  true, 
Pray  let's  the  cause  know, 
When  you  have  any  room  in  your  paper. 

A.     The  old  wives  get  merry, 
With  spic'd  ale  or  sherry, 
On  Easter,  which  makes  them  romance 
And  whilst  in  a  rout, 
Their  brains  whirl  about, 
They  fancy  we  caper  and  dance. 

The  sun  shining  on  the  bride  as  she  goes  to  church 
is  a  good  omen.  The  cloudy  rising  of  the  sun  is  a 
presage  of  misfortune.  The  Highlanders,  when 
they  approach  a  well  to  drink,  walk  round  it  from 
east  to  west,  sometimes  thrice. 

The  Orkney  fishermen,  on  going  to  sea,  would 
think  themselves  in  imminent  peril,  were  they  by 
accident  to  turn  their  boat  in  opposition  to  the  sun's 
course;  and  I  have  seen  many  well-educated  people 
seriously  discomfited  if  the  cards  from  the  pack,  the 


3Folfe*Xore.  217 

balls  from  the  pool-basket,  or  the  decanters  at  the 
dining-table  had  not  been  sent  round  as  the  sun 
goes. 

All  the  ancient  dances  were  in  imitation  of  the 
revolutions  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  and  were  used 
in  religious  worship.  Such  were  the  circular  dances 
of  the  Druids — the  slower  and  statelier  movements 
of  the  Greek  strophe — the  dances  of  the  Cabiri  or 
Phoenician  priests,  the  devotional  dances  of  the  Turk- 
ish dervishes,  the  Hindoo  Raas  yattra  or  dance-of- 
the-circle,  and  the  war  dances  of  the  American  and 
other  savage  nations  round  their  camp-fires,  lodges, 
or  triumphal  poles. 

Such  also  is  the  Round  About,  or  Cheshire 
Round,  which  is  referred  to  by  Goldsmith  in  his 
Vicar  of  Wakefield,  and  which  is  not  yet  extinct  in 
England. 

But  the  best  instance  of  sun-worship  is  found  in 
the  fires  lighted  by  the  common  Irish  on  Midsum- 
mer's Eve,  and  which  they  tell  you  candidly  are 
burnt   "  in  honor  of  the  sun." 

The  fires  which  the  Scotch  Highlanders  light  on 
May  Day  are  to  welcome  back  the  sun  after  his  long 
pilgrimage  in  the  frosts  and  darkness  of  winter. 

Crantz  in  his  History  of  Greenland,  informs  us 
that  the  natives  of  that  country  observe  a  similar 
festival  to  testify  their  joy  at  the  re-appearance  of 


218  ffolfe^Xore, 

the  sun,  and  the  consequent  renewal  of  the  hunting 
season. 

In  matters  of  divination,  the  moon  is  supposed  by 
the  vulgar  to  possess  a  peculiar  power.  She  was 
supposed  to  exercise  an  influence  not  only  over 
the  tides  of  the  sea,  and  over  the  minds  of  men, 
but  also  over  the  future,  in  weather,  cookery,  and 
physic. 

When  the  moon  is  encircled  by  a  halo,  or  is 
involved  in  a  mist,  when  she  is  called  "greasy,"  it 
portends  rain — when  she  is  sharp  horned,  windy 
weather.  It  is  also  a  general  belief  among  all  classes 
that  as  the  weather  is  at  the  new  moon,  so  it  will 
continue  during  the  whole  month. 

In  many  of  the  old  almanacs  and  books  of  hus- 
bandry, it  is  directed  to  kill  hogs  when  the  moon  is 
increasing,  and  the  bacon  will  prove  the  better,  in 
boiling;  to  shear  sheep  at  the  moon's  increase;  to 
fell  hand-timber  from  the  full  to  the  change;  to  fell 
frith,  coppice,  and  fuel  at  the  first  quarter;  to  geld 
cattle  when  the  moon  is  in  Aries,  Sagittarius,  or 
Capricorn. 

In    The  Husbandman  s  Practice,  or  Prognostication 

for  ever,  the  reader  is  advised    "To  purge  with 

electuaries  the  moon  in  Cancer,  with  pills  the  moone 

in  Pisces,  with   potions  the  moone  in  Virgo,"  and 

in  another  place,  "  To  set,  sow  seeds,  graft,  and 


ffolfe^Xore,  219 

plant,  the  moone  being  in  Taurus,  Virgo  or  Capri- 
corn, and  all  kinds  of  corne  in  Cancer,  to  graft  in 
March,  at  the  moone's  increase,  she  being  in  Taurus 
or  Capricorn." 

Werenfels  in  his  Dissertation  on  Superstition, 
speaking  of  a  superstitious  man,  writes,  "  He  will 
have  his  hair  cut  either  when  the  moon  is  in  Leo, 
that  his  locks  may  stare  like  the  lion's  shacr,  or  in 
Aries  that  they  may  stare  like  a  ram's  horn.  What- 
ever he  would  have  to  grow  he  sets  about  when  she 
is  in  the  increase;  for  whatever  he  would  have  made 
less  he  chooses  her  wane.  When  the  moon  is  in 
Taurus,  he  can  never  be  persuaded  to  take  physic, 
lest  that  animal  which  chews  its  cud  should  make 
him  cast  it  up  again;  and  if  at  any  time  he  has  a 
mind  to  be  admitted  to  the  presence  of  a  prince,  he 
will  wait  till  the  moon  is  in  conjunction  with  the 
sun,  for  'tis  then  the  society  of  an  inferior  with  a 
superior  is  salutary  and  successful." 

The  islanders  of  Sky  will  not  dig  peats  (which  is 
their  only  fuel)  in  the  increase  of  the  moon,  believ- 
ing that  they  are  less  moist,  and  will  burn  more 
clearly  if  cut  in  the  wane. 

In  the  parishes  of  Kirkwall  and  St.  Ola,  Orkney, 
none  marry  or  kill  cattle  in  the  wane. 

In  Angus  it  is  believed  that  if  a  child  be  put  from 
the  breast  during  the  waning  of  the   moon,  it  will 


220  jfolfe*%ore. 

decay  all  the  time  that  the  moon  continues  to  wane. 
I  will  mention  two  more  instances  of  divination, 
one  from  Thomas  Hodge's  Incarnate  Dwells,  viz., 
"  That  when  the  moone  appeareth  in  the  spring- 
time, the  one  horn  spotted  and  hidden  with  a  blacke 
and  great  cloude  from  the  first  day  of  her  apparition 
to  the  fourth  day  after,  it  is  some  signe  of  tempests 
and  troubles  in  the  aire  the  summer  after" 

When  the  new  moon  appears  with  the  old  moon 
in  her  arms,  or  in  other  words  when  that  part  of  the 
moon  which  is  covered  by  the  shadow  of  the  earth 
is  seen  through  it,  it  is  considered  not  only  an  omen 
of  bad  weather,  but  also  of  misfortune,  as  we  learn 
from  the  following  stanza  in  the  ballad  of  Sir  Patrick 
Spence  : 

Late,  late  yestreen  I  saw  the  new  moone 
Wi'  the  auld  moone  in  her  arme; 
And  I  feir,  I  feir,  my  deir  master, 
That  we  will  come  to  harm. 

One  might  enumerate  examples  of  this  kind  to 
volumes,  and  I  fear  I  have  already  passed  the  limits 
of  human  endurance;  I  must,  however,  write  a  few 
words  upon  the  subject  of  moon-worship. 

The  feminine  appellation  is  traditionally  derived 
from  the  fable  of  I  sis,  who  was  entitled  the  wife  of 
the  sun.  The  superstition  of  the  man-in-the-moon, 
is  supposed  to  have  originated  in  the  account  given 
in  the  Book  of  Numbers,  XV.  32  et  seq.  of  a  man 


jfolfe=%ore.  221 

punished  with  death  for  gathering-  sticks  on  the 
Sabbath  Day,  though  why,  it  is  difficult  to  explain. 
In  Ritson's  Ancient  Songs  we  read,  "  The  man-in- 
the-moon  is  represented  leaning  upon  a  fork,  on 
which  he  carries  a  bush  of  thorn,  because  it  was  for 
1  pycchynde  stake '  on  a  Sunday  that  he  is  reported 
to  have  been  thus  confined."  And  in  Midsummer 
Night's  Dream,  one  of  the  actors  says,  "  All  I  have 
to  say  is  to  tell  you  that  the  lantern  is  the  moon,  I 
the  man-in-the-moon,this  thorn  bush  my  thorn  bush, 
and  this  dog  my  dog."  Vide  also  Tempest,  act.  ii. 
sc.  2. 

The  new  moon  still  continues  to  be  idolatrously 
worshipped  by  the  vulgar  of  many  countries. 

On  the  night  of  the  new  moon,  the  Jews  assemble 
to  pray  to  God  under  the  names  of  the  Creator  of 
the  planets,  and  the  restorer  of  the  moon. 

The  Madingoe  Tribe  of  African  Indians  whisper  a 
short  prayer  with  their  hands  held  before  their  face; 
they  then  spit  upon  their  hands  and  religiously 
anoint  their  faces  with  the  same. 

At  the  end  of  the  Mahometan  Feast  of  Rhamadan 
(which  closely  resembles  the  Romish  Carnival)  the 
priests  await  the  reappearance  of  the  moon,  and 
salute  her  with  clapping  of  hands,  beating  of  drums 
and  firing  of  muskets. 

In  the  65th  Canon  of  the  6th  council  of  Constan- 


222  ffolft*%ore. 

tinople,  a.  d.  680,  is  the  following  interdiction: 
"  Those  bone-fires  that  are  kindled  by  certaine 
people  on  new  moones  before  their  shops  and  houses, 
over  which  also  they  are  most  foolishly  and  ridicu- 
lously to  leape  by  a  certaine  antient  custom,  we 
command  them  from  henceforth  to  cease.  Whoever 
therefore  shall  do  any  such  thing,  if  he  be  a  clergy- 
man let  him  be  deposed — if  a  layman  let  him  be 
excommunicated." 

No  bonfires  are  now  lit  in  honor  of  the  new  moon, 
but  the  common  Irish  on  beholding  her  for  the  first 
time  cross  themselves,  saying: 

"  May  thou  leave  us  as  safe  as  thou  hast  found 
us." 

English  peasants  often  salute  the  new  moon,  say- 
ing: "  There  is  the  new  moon,  God  bless  her,"  usually 
seating  themselves  on  a  stile  as  they  do  so. 

They  also  believe  that  a  new  moon  seen  over  the 
right  shoulder  is  lucky,  over  the  left  shoulder  un- 
lucky, and  straight  before  good  luck  to  the  end  of 
the  moon. 

That  if  they  look  straight  at  the  new  moon  (or  a 
shooting  star)  when  they  first  see  it,  and  wish  for 
something,  their  wish  will  be  fulfilled  before  the  end 
of  the  year. 

The  peasant  girls,  in  some  parts  of  England,  when 
they  see  the  new  moon  in  the  new  year,  take  their 


jfolft^Xore.  223 

stocking  off  from  one  foot  and  run  to  the  next  stile; 
when  they  get  there,  they  look  between  the  great 
toe  and  the  next,  and  expect  to  find  a  hair  which 
will  be  the  color  of  their  lover's. 

In  Yorkshire,  it  is  common  enough  for  an  inquisi- 
tive maid  to  go  out  into  a  field  till  she  finds  a  stone 
fast  in  the  earth,  to  kneel  upon  this  with  naked  knees 
and  looking  up  at  the  new  moon  to  say: 

All  hail,  new  moon,  all  hail  to  thee, 
I  prithee,  good  moon,  reveal  to  me 
This  night,  who  shall  my  true  love  be, 
Who  he  is,  and  what  he  wears, 
And  what  he  does  all  months  and  years. 

She  then  retires  backwards  till  she  comes  to  a 
stile,  and  goes  to  bed  directly  without  speaking  a 
word. 

The  Irish  believe  that  eclipses  of  the  moon  are 
effected  by  witchcraft,  and  this  occasions  me  to  nar- 
rate a  curious  custom  of  the  ancient  Peruvians  who 
were  the  Egyptians  of  the  New  World. 

When  the  moon  became  eclipsed,  they  imagined 
that  she  was  ill  and  would  fall  down  and  crush  the 
world.  Accordingly  as  soon  as  the  eclipse  com- 
menced, they  made  a  noise  with  cornets  and  drums, 
and  tying  dogs  to  trees  beat  them  till  they  howled 
in  order  to  awake  the  fainting  moon  who  is  said  to 
love  these  animals,  for  Diana  and  Nehalenna  are 
seldom  represented  without  a  dog  by  their  side. 


224  jfolK*%ore* 

Since  we  find  in  a  book,  called  Osborne's  Advice 
to  his  Son,  p.  79,  that  "  the  Irish  and  Welch  during 
eclipses  ran  about  beating  kettles  and  pans,  thinking 
their  clamor  and  vexations  available  to  the  assistance 
of  the  higher  orbes,"  it  is  probable  that  they  made 
use  of  the  same  canine  resources  as  the  natives  of 
Peru,  and  that  such  is  the  origin  of  the  Irish  proverb 
that  "dogs  will  bark  at  the  moony 

Having  thus  considered  the  worship  of  the  ele- 
ments and  of  the  heavenly  bodies  extant  among  us, 
let  us  pass  on  to  those  minor  idolatries  which  are 
still  retained  among  the  lower  orders. 

There  is  no  religious  custom  of  the  Russians  so 
celebrated  as  that  of  presenting  each  other  with  eggs 
dyed  and  stained,  saying,  "  Christ  is  risen."  To 
which  the  other  replies  "  He  is  indeed,"  and  thev 
exchange  kisses. 

An  egg  was  the  Egyptian  emblem  of  the  universe, 
and  it  was  from  the  Egyptians  that  all  the  Pagan 
nations,  and  afterwards  the  Greek  Christians  derived 
this  ceremony.  They  are  used  also  by  the  Roman 
Catholics  and  by  the  Jews  in  their  Paschal  festival. 

It  is  probable  that  it  was  also  a  Druidic  ceremony, 
for  it  prevails  in  Cumberland  and  many  other  coun- 
ties of  England.  On  Easter  Monday  and  Tuesday 
the  inhabitants  assemble  in  the  meadows,  the  chil- 


jfolfe=%ore.  225 

dren  provided  with  hard  boiled  eggs,  colored  or 
ornamented  in  various  ways,  some  being  dyed  with 
logwood  or  cochineal;  others  tinged  with  the  juice 
of  herbs  and  broom-flowers;  others  stained  by  being 
boiled  in  shreds  of  parti-colored  riband;  and  others 
covered  with  gilding.  They  roll  them  along  the 
ground,  or  toss  them  in  the  air  till  they  break  when 
they  eat  them — a  part  of  the  ceremony  which  they 
probably  understand  the  best.  They  are  called  pace- 
eggs  or  paste-eggs,  probably  corrupted  from  pasche. 

This  reminds  us  of  the  strange  fable  of  the  ser- 
pent's egg.  As  I  mentioned  in  an  earlier  chapter 
many  of  these  eggs  or  adder-stones  are  preserved 
with  great  reverence  in  the  Highlands.  There  are 
also  some  traditions  upon  this  subject  which  are 
worth  narrating. 

Monsieur  Chorier  in  his  Histoire  de  Datcphine 
informs  us  that  in  the  divers  parts  of  that  county, 
especially  near  the  mountain  of  Rochelle  on  the 
borders  of  Savoy,  serpents  congregate  from  the  15th 
of  June  to  the  1 5th  of  August  for  purposes  of  gener- 
ation. The  place  which  they  have  occupied  after 
they  have  gone,  is  covered  with  a  sticky  white  foam 
which  is  indescribably  disgusting  to  behold. 

Camden  relates  that  in  most  parts  of  Wales  and 
throughout  Scotland  and  Cornwall,  it  is  an  opinion 
of  the  vulgar  that  about  Midsummer  Eve  the  snakes 


226  ffolfe^OLore. 

meet  together  in  companies,  and  that  by  joining 
heads  together  and  hissing,  a  kind  of  bubble  is 
formed  which  the  rest  by  continual  hissing  blow  on 
till  it  quite  passes  through  the  body,  when  it  imme- 
diately hardens  and  resembles  a  glass  ring  which 
will  make  its  finder  prosperous  in  all  his  undertak- 
ings. The  rings  thus  generated  are  called  gleinu 
madroeth,  or  snake  stones.  They  are  small  glass 
amulets  commonly  about  half  as  wide  as  our  finger 
rings,  but  much  thicker,  of  a  green  color  usually 
thoueh  sometimes  blue  and  waved  with  red  and 
white. 

Careu  in  his  Survey  of  Cornwall  says  that  its  in- 
habitants believe  that  snakes  breathing  upon  a  hazel 
wand  produce  a  stone  ring  of  a  blue  color,  in  which 
there  appears  the  yellow  figure  of  a  snake,  and  that 
beasts  which  have  been  bit  by  a  mad  dog  or  poisoned, 
if  given  some  water  to  drink  wherein  this  stone  has 
been  infused,  will  perfectly  recover. 

The  following  custom  is  evidently  a  dramatic 
representation  of  the  rape  of  the  serpent's  egg  a  la 
Pliny: 

On  Easter  Monday,  in  Normandy,  the  common 
people  congregate  a  la  motte  de  Pougard  which  they 
surround.  They  place  at  the  foot  a  basket  contain- 
ing a  hundred  eggs,  the  number  of  the  stones  of  the 
temple   of  Aubury.     A  man  takes  the  eggs   and 


lfolfe*Xore.  227 

places  them  singly  on  the  top  of  the  tumulus,  and 
then  descends  in  the  same  manner  to  return  them 
to  the  basket.  While  this  is  doing,  another  man 
runs  to  a  village  half  a  league  off,  and  if  he  can 
return  before  the  last  egg  is  restored  to  the  basket, 
he  gains  a  barrel  of  cider  as  a  prize,  which  he 
empties  with  the  co-operation  of  his  friends,  and  a 
Bacchanalian  dance  round  the  tumulus  ends  the 
proceedings. 

Serpent-worship  is  almost  extinct,  if  not  entirely 
so;  and  the  belief  of  the  lower  orders  in  Ireland  that 
St.  Patrick  expelled  all  the  snakes  and  other  reptiles 
from  the  island  is  perhaps  derived  from  his  having 
extineuished  their  adorers. 

However,  it  is  considered  unlucky  in  England  to 
kill  the  harmless  green  snake;  and  there  is  a  super- 
stition almost  universally  present,  that  it  will  not  die 
till  the  setting  of  that  sun,  of  which  it  was  an  em- 
blem. 

Its  tenacity  of  life  is  indeed  something  marvelous. 
Mr.  Payne  Knight,  in  his  work  on  Phallic  worship, 
(which  I  read  at  the  British  Museum,  but  which  is 
somewhat  absurdly  excluded  from  the  catalogue) 
states  that  he  has  seen  the  heart  of  an  adder  throb 
for  some  moments  after  it  had  been  completely  taken 
from  the  body,  and  even  renew  its  beatings  ten 
minutes  afterwards  when  dipped  in  hot  water. 


228  jfolfe=%ore. 

Many  of  our  ladies  wear  bracelets  in  the  shape  of 
a  snake,  as  did  the  Egyptian  dames  of  old.  The 
lower  orders  believe  that  a  serpent's  skin  will  extract 
thorns,  and  its  fat  is  sold  to  London  chemists  at  five 
shillings  a  pound  for  its  medicinal  properties. 

Most  curious  of  all,  is  the  superstition  that  by 
eating  snakes  one  may  grow  young,  and  of  which 
the  three  following  passages  are  illustrations. 

"A  gentlewoman  told  an  ancient  bachelor,  who  looked  very 
young,  that  she  thought  he  had  eaten  a  snake .  No  mistress,  (he  said) 
it  is  because  I  never  meddled  with  any  snakes  which  maketh  me  look 
so  young." — Holy  State,  1642,  p.  36. 

He  hath  left  off  o'  late  to  feed  on  snakes, 
His  beard's  turned  white  again. 

Massinger,  Old  Law.    Act  V.  Sc.  I. 

He  is  your  loving  brother,  sir,  and  will  tell  nobody 
But  all  he  meets,  that  you  have  eat  a  snake, 
And  are  grown  young,  gamesome,  and  rampant. 

Ibid,  Elder  Brother,  Act  IV.,  Sc  4. 

Of  stone  worship  there  are  still  many  vestiges. 
In  a  little  island  near  Skye  is  a  chapel  dedicated  to 
St.  Columbus;  on  an  altar  is  a  round  blue  stone 
which  is  always  moist.  Fishermen,  detained  by 
contrary  winds,  bathe  this  stone  in  water,  expecting 
thereby  to  obtain  favorable  winds;  it  is  likewise  ap- 
plied to  the  sides  of  people  troubled  with  stitches, 
and  it  is  held  so  holy,  that  decisive  oaths  are  sworn 
upon  it. 

There  is  a  stone  in  the  parish  of  Madren,  Corn- 
wall, through  which  many  persons  are  wont  to  creep 


ffolK^xore.  229 

for  pains  in  the  back  and  limbs,  and  through  which 
children  are  drawn  for  the  rickets.  In  the  North, 
children  are  drawn  through  a  hole  cut  in  the  Groan- 
ing Cheese,  a  huge  stone,  on  the  day  they  are  chris- 
tened. 

To  go  into  the  cleft  of  a  rock  was  an  ancient 
method  of  penitence  and  purification.  It  may  be 
remembered  that  in  the  tradition  of  Hiram  Abiff, 
the  assassins  were  found  concealed  in  a  hollow  rock, 
in  which  they  were  lamenting  their  crime. 

To  sleep  on  stones  on  particular  nights  is  a  cure 
for  lameness  with  our  peasants,  though  perhaps  a 
hazardous  one,  especially  if  the  disease  originated 
from  rheumatism. 

A  Druidic  monument  of  great  historical  interest 
is  to  be  seen  under  the  coronation  chair  in  West- 
minster Abbey.  Originally  called  Liag-fial,  the 
Fatal  Stone,  by  others  Clock  na,  cineamhna  or  the 
Stone  of  Fortune,  it  was  that  upon  which  the  Kings 
of  Ireland  used  to  be  inaugurated,  and  which,  beino- 
enclosed  in  a  wooden  chair,  was,  by  the  ino-enuity 
of  the  Druids,  made  to  emit  a  sound  under  the  right- 
ful candidate,  and  mute  under  a  man  of  bad  title.  It 
was  superstitiously  sent  to  confirm  the  Irish  colony 
in  Scotland,  and  it  continued  at  Scone  as  the  coro- 
nation of  the  Scotch  Kings,  from  the  commencement 
of  the  Christian  Era  till  1300  a.  d.,  when  Edward  I. 


230  jFolfc=3Lore. 

imported  it  into  England.  It  is  still  a  superstition 
in  the  Highlands  that  those  who  lay  their  hands 
against  the  Druids'  stones  will  not  prosper. 

Many  of  these  monuments  are  approached  with 
great  reverence  by  the  natives  of  Scotland  and  the 
Isles,  especially  the  Tighte  nan  Druidhneach  in  the 
Isle  of  Skye,  little  arched,  round  stone  buildings 
capable  of  holding  one,  where  the  contemplative 
Druid  sat  when  his  oak  could  not  shelter  him  from 
the  weather.  The  common  people  never  pass  these 
without  walking  round  them  three  times  from  east 
to  west. 

In  Chartres,  which  teems  with  Druidic  vestiges,  a 
curious  specimen  of  stone  worship  remains.  At  the 
close  of  service  in  the  cathedral,  no  one  leaves  the 
church  without  kneeling  and  saying  a  short  prayer 
before  a  small  pillar  or  stone — without  polish,  base 
or  capital — placed  in  a  niche,  and  much  worn  on  one 
side  by  the  kisses  of  the  devout.  This  stone  is 
rumored  to  be  of  high  antiquity,  even  earlier  than 
the  establishment  of  Christianity — for  many  centuries 
to  have  remained  in  a  crypt  of  the  cathedral  where 
lamps  were  constantly  burning — but  the  stairs  having 
been  much  worn  on  one  side  by  the  great  resort  of 
pilgrims  to  the  spot,  the  stone  had  been  removed 
from  its  original  site,  to  avoid  the  expenses  of  re- 
pairs.    It  was  said   to  be  a  miraculous  stone,  and 


tfolfe*Xore.  231 

that  its  miracles  were  performed  at  the  intercession 
of  the  Virgin  Mary. 

There  is  a  certain  reverence  paid  by  the  peasantry 
to  those  caves  in  which  the  Druids  held  their  initia- 
tory rites.  Many  of  them  are  said  to  be  inhabited 
by  spirits,  and  there  is  one  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Dunskey,  Scotland,  which  is  held  in  peculiar  vener- 
ation. At  the  change  of  the  moon  it  is  usual  to 
bring  even  from  a  great  distance  infirm  persons, 
and  particularly  rickety  children  whom  they  supposed 
bewitched,  to  bathe  in  a  stream  which  flows  from 
the  hill,  and  then  to  dry  them  in  the  cave. 

As  among  the  Druids  it  is  still  customary  to  place 
a  platter  of  salt  and  earth  upon  the  breast  of  the 
corpse  in  many  parts  of  Britain.  Salt  was  held  in 
great  reverence  by  the  Eastern  nations  as  an  emblem 
of  incorruptibility.  So  among  us  to  spill  salt  is 
considered  unlucky;  it  was  only  the  other  day  that 
I  saw  a  talented  and  well  educated  lady  over- 
whelmed with  consternation  at  this  mishap,  but 
with  admirable  presence  of  mind  she  flung  a  pinch 
over  her  left  shoulder  and  so  recovered  her  self- 
possession. 

Hare  was  forbidden  to  the  ancient  Britons  by  their 
religion,  and  to  this  day  the  Cornish  eat  it  with 
reluctance.  Boadicea  also  augured  from  the  running 
of  a  hare;  and  a  hare  that  runs  across  a  path  (to  any 


232  jfolfe^Xore, 

one  but  a  sportsman,  or  rather  a  pot-hunter)  is  an 
omen  of  ill-luck. 

The  onion  was  an  emblem  of  the  deity  among  the 
Egyptians,  perhaps  also  among  the  Druids,  for  it  is 
a  custom  in  some  parts  of  England  for  girls  to  divine 
by  it,  as  Barnaby  Googe  in  his  translation  of  Nao- 
georgus'  Popish  Kingdome  informs  us. 

In  these  same  days  young  wanton  gyrles  that  meete  for  marriage  be, 
Doe  search  to  know  the  names  of  them  that  shall  their  husbands  bee; 
Fouronyons,  five,  or  eight,  they  take,  and  make  in  every  one 
Such  names  as  they  do  fancie  most,  and  best  to  think  upon, 
Thus  nere  the  chimney  them  they  set,  and  that  same  Onyon  then 
That  firste  doth  sproute,  doth  surely  bear  the  name  of  their  good  man. 

In  matters  of  dress,  there  are  not  many  traces  of 
the  Druids  and  the  ancient   Britons  to  be   found. 

The  caps  of  rushes,  however,  which  they  wore 
tied  at  the  top  and  twisted  into  a  band  at  the  bot- 
tom, may  still  be  seen  upon  the  heads  of  children  in 
Wales  and  some  parts  of  England.  In  Shetland,  the 
ancient  sandals  of  untanned  skins  are  worn,  and 
also,  by  fishermen  in  cold  weather,  the  Druidic 
wooden  shoes.  I  could  not  discover  their  real  origin 
during  my  visit  there:  some  said  they  had  been 
imported  by  the  Dutch,  others  that  the  Dutch  had 
borrowed  the  idea  from  them;  but  in  any  case  these 
wooden  shoes,  the  sabots  of  the  lower  orders  of 
France,  are  derived  from  the  Druids. 

The  best  instance  of  dress  however,  is  the  High- 
land plaid,  which  was  the  very  garment  worn  by  the 


ffolft*Xore,  233 

Druid  Abaris,  on  his  visit  to  Athens,  and  which  is 
an  extraordinary  example  of  savage  conservatism. 
From  the  breachanoi  the  Gauls  and  Britons,  is  de- 
rived our  word  breeches  and  also  that  inelegant  but 
necessary  article  of  clothing. 

Upon  the  subject  of  words  I  will  also  remark  that 
our  word  fortnight  or  fourteen  nights,  is  derived 
from  the  Druidic  habit  of  counting  time  by  nights 
instead  of  days;  and  the  word  dizzy  from  their  deisul, 
or  circular  dance,  (in  Hebrew  dizzel).  I  could  give 
a  multitude  more,  but  ohe  !  jam  satis  est. 

A  very  curious  memorial  of  Druidism  in  the  very 
bosom  of  victorious  Christianity  was  discovered  a 
few  years  ago  by  the  well-known  French  Antiquary, 
M.  Hersart  de  la  Villemarque.  It  is  a  fragment  of 
Latin  poetry  which  all  the  children  in  the  parish  of 
Nizon,  Canton  de  Pont-Aven,  are  taught  to  sins*  at 
school  and  in  church.  The  original  poetry  is  almost 
the  same  as  its  Latin  adaptation,  except  that  in  the 
latter  various  biblical  allusions  have  been  slipped  in. 

I  will  give  the  first  strophe  of  the  original,  then 
its  translation  in  the  French  of  M.  Villemarque 
which  is  too  good  for  me  to  meddle  with,  and  then 
the  Latin  hymn  as  sung  by  the  children  : — 

ANN  DROUIZ. 

Daik  mab  gwenn  Drouiz;  ore; 
Daik  petra  fell  d'id-dei 
Petra  ganinn-me  d'id-de. 


234  t*olft*%ore. 

AR  MAP 

Kan  d'in  euz  a  eur  raun, 
Ken  a  ouffenn  breman. 

LE  DRUIDE. 

Tout  beau  enfant  blanc  du  Druide,  tout  beau  reponds-moi;  que  veux- 
tu  ?  te  chanterai-je  ? 

L'ENFANT. 

Chante-moi  la  division  du  nombre  un  jusqu'a  ce  queje  l'apprenne 
aujourd'hui. 

LE  DRUIDE. 

Pas  de  division  pour  le  nombre  un,  la  necessiteuni  que;  la  mort  pere 
de  la  douleur;  rien  avant,  rien  apres.     Tout  beau,  &c. 

L'ENFANT. 

Chante-moi  la  division  du  nombre  deux,  &c. 

LE  DRUIDE. 

Deux  bceufs  atteles  3.  une  coque;  ils  tirent,  ils  vont  expirer — Voyez  la 

merveille  ! 
Pas  de  division,  &c. 

L'ENFANT. 
Chante-moi  la  division  du  nombre  trois,  &c. 

LE  DRUIDE. 

II  y  a  trois  parties  dans  le  monde;  trois  commencements  et  trois  fins 
pour  l'homme,  comme  pour  le  chene;  trois  celestes  royaumes 
de  Merlin;  fruits  d'or,  fleurs  brillantes,  petits  enfants  qui  rient. 

Deux  boeufs,  &c. 

Pas  de  division,  &e. 

The  christianized  version  in  Latin  is  as  follows: 

L'ENFANT. 
Die  mihi  quid  unus, 
Die  mihi  quid  unus. 

LE  MAITRE. 

Unus  est  Deus, 
Qui  regnat  in  Coelis. 

L'ENFANT. 

Die  mihi  quid  duo. 
Die  mihi  quid  duo. 


ffolK^Xore.  235 

LE  MAITRE. 
Duo  testamenta, 
Unus  est  Deus, 
Qui  regnat  in  CceHs. 

L'ENFANT. 

Die  mihi  qui  sunt  tres 
Die  mihi  que  sunt  tres. 

LE  MAITRE. 
Tres  sunt  patriarchae, 
Duo  sunt  testamenta; 
Unus  est  deus, 
Qui  regnat  in  Ccelis. 

Both  of  these  dialogues  are  continued  to  the 
number  twelve.  In  the  Druidic  version  containing 
precepts  on  theology,  cosmogony,  chronology,  as- 
tronomy, geography,  magic,  medicine  and  history. 
The  Latin  version  teaching  that  there  is  one  God, 
two  testaments,  three  prophets,  four  evangelists,  five 
books  of  Moses,  six  pitchers  at  the  marriage  of 
Cana,  seven  sacraments,  eight  beatitudes,  nine  choirs 
of  angels,  ten  commandments,  eleven  stars  which 
appeared  to  Joseph,  and  twelve  apostles. 

The  resemblance  of  style  and  precept  throughout 
is  very  striking,  and  a  discovery  which  I  have  made 
of  the  same  nature  renders  it  still  more  surprising. 

There  is  a  peculiar  song  of  the  Oxfordshire  peas- 
ants, the  meaning  of  which  had  often  perplexed  me 
and  which  of  course  those  who  sung  it  were  the 
least  able  to  explain. 

It  is  sung  in  this  manner.     One  of  them  begins: — 

I  will  sing  you  my  one  O  ! 


236  tfolfe^Xore. 

To  which  the  rest  sing-  in  chorus. 

What  is  your  one  O  ! 

And  he  sings. 

One  is  all  alone, 

And  ever  doth  remain  so. 

The  song  continues  to  the  number  twelve,  each 
verse  repeated  after  each  as  in  the  original  versions 
above.  Most  of  these  verses  are  local  corruptions, 
and  it  is  probable  that  in  some  parts  of  England  a 
purer  version  is  retained.  However,  since  the  first 
refers  to  the  One  Deity,  the  second  to  "  two  white 
boys  clothed  in  green,"  the  fourth  to  "  four  gospel 
preachers,"  the  seventh  to  the  '•  seven  stars,"  &c, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  its  origin. 

There  is  so  superstitious  a  reverence  paid  by  the 
lower  orders  in  many  parts  of  Britain  to  bees,  that 
one  is  almost  inclined  to  suppose  that  they  also  were 
held  sacred  by  the  Druids. 

The  Cornishmen  consider  bees  too  sacred  to  be 
bought.  In  other  counties,  on  the  death  of  their 
proprietor,  a  ceremonious  announcement  of  the  fact 
is  made  to  them  and  a  piece  of  funeral  cake  presented 
to  them.  It  is  believed  that  were  this  omitted  they 
would  fly  away.  In  Lithuania  a  similar  practice 
prevails. 

There  is  no  clue  to  this,  except  in  the  circum- 
stance that  the  bee-hive  is  one  of  the  emblems  of  Free- 


ffolfe^Xore.  237 

masonry,  and  like  many  other  Druidic  and  Masonic 
symbols,  e.g.  the  seven  stars,  the  cross-keys,  &c,  a 
favorite  tavern  sign.  For  instance  the  one  at 
Abingdon,  under  which  is  written  the  following 
jocose  distich: 

Within  this  hive  were  all  alive, 
Good  liquor  makes  us  funny, 
So  if  your  dry,  come  in  and  try, 
The  flavor  of  our  honey. 

From  the  apple-tree  the  Druids  were  wont  to  cut 
their  divining  rods.  And  to  this  tree  at  Christmas, 
in  Devon,  Cornwall  and  other  counties  a  curious 
ceremony  is  paid.  The  farmer  and  his  laborers  soak 
cakes  in  cider,  and  place  them  on  the  trenches  of  an 
apple  tree,  and  sprinkling  the  tree  repeat  the  follow- 
ing incantation  : 

Here's  to  thee,  old  apple  tree  ! 

Whence  thou  mayst  bud,  and  whence  thou  mayest  blow. 

Hats  full !    Caps  full  ? 

Bushel,  bushel,  sacks  full  ! 

And  my  pockets  full  too !    Huzza  ! 

After  which  they  dance  round  the  tree  and  get 
drunk  on  the  cider  which  remains.  They  believe 
that  if  they  did  not  do  this  the  tree  would  not  bear. 

I  have  now  to  consider  the  vestiges  of  mistletoe- 
worship  extant  among  the  descendants  of  the  Druids. 

On  Christmas  Eve  it  was  lately  the  custom  at 
York  to  carry  mistletoe  to  the  high  altar  of  the 
Cathedral,  and  to  proclaim   a  public  and  universal 


238  jfolfe*%ore. 

liberty,  pardon  and  freedom  to  all  sorts  of  inferior 
and  even  wicked  people  at  the  gates  of  the  city 
towards  the  four  quarters  of  heaven. 

The  mistletoe  was  considered  of  great  medicinal 
virtue  by  Sir  John  Coldbatch  for  epilepsy  and  other 
convulsive  disorders.  The  mistletoe  of  the  oak  is 
used  by  the  common  people  for  wind  ruptures  in 
children. 

Like  the  houzza  !  of  the  East,  the  mistletoe  would 
seem  to  have  a  religious  exclamation,  as  I  judge 
from  finding  it  so  often  the  refrain  to  old  French 
songs,  especially  this  one  : 

O  gue  la  bonne  adventure,  O  gue. 

And  in  one  celebrated  English  ballad  : 

O  the  mistletoe  bough  !    and  O  the  mistletoe  bough  ! 

It  is  still  a  custom  in  many  parts  of  France  for 
children  to  run  down  the  street  on  New  Year's  Day, 
and  to  rap  the  doors  crying  "  Augui  Can  ne,  or  Au 
gui,  Van  neuf." 

In  the  island  of  Sein,  there  is  a  mistletoe  feast 
which  it  is  believed  has  been  perpetuated  by  the 
Bas  Breton  tailors  who,  strange  to  say,  have  been 
formed  from  time  immemorial  into  a  fine  association. 
They  are  poets,  musicians  and  wizards  who  never 
contract  marriages  with  strangers,  and  who  have   a 


3folK*Xore.  239 

language  of  their  own,  called  lueache  which  they  will 
not  speak  in  the  presence  of  foreigners. 

At  this  feast  there  is  a  procession.  An  altar 
covered  with  green  boughs  is  erected  in  the  centre 
of  a  circular  space  of  ground.  Thence  they  start,  and 
thither  marching  round  the  island  return.  Two 
fiddlers  form  the  vanguard;  they  are  followed  by 
children  carrying  bill-hooks  and  oak-branches,  and 
leading  an  ox  and  a  horse  covered  with  flowers. 
After  them  a  huge  crowd  which  stops  at  intervals 
crying  Gui-na-ne  voila,  le  Gui. 

There  is  one  more  mistletoe  custom  which  I  had 
almost  forgotten.  Let  us  imagine  ourselves  in  the 
hall  of  some  old-fashioned  country  mansion.  Let  it 
be  Christmas- night,  and  at  that  hour  when  merriment 
and  wine  has  flushed  every  face,  and  glowed  into 
every  heart. 

And  now  I  will  paint  to  you  a  young  maiden  who 
embraced  in  the  arms  of  her  lover  is  whirled  round 
the  hall,  her  eyes  sparkling,  her  white  bosom  heaving 
and  her  little  feet  scarce  seeming  to  touch  the  floor. 
They  pause  for  a  moment.  An  old  lady  with  an 
arch  twinkle  in  her  eye  whispers  something  to  her 
partner,  he  nods  and  smiles;  she  blushes  and  turns 
her  eyes,  pretending  not  to  hear. 

They  join  the  dance  again,  when  suddenly  he  stays 
her  in  the  centre  of  the  hall.     Above  their  heads 


240  jfolfe*%ore. 

droops  down  a  beautiful  plant  with  pale  white  berries 
and  leaves  of  a  delicate  green.  He  stoops  and  gives 
her  the  kiss-under-the-mistletoe.  All  laugh  and  follow 
his  example  till  the  scene  vies  the  revels  of  the 
ancient  Bacchanals. 

It  is  this  picture  which  awakes  me  from  a  reverie 
into  which  I  have  long  been  buried.  Reader !  you 
have  sought  with  me  for  the  first  germs  of  religion 
in  the  chaos  of  youthful  Time;  you  have  dived  with 
me  into  those  mysteries  which  the  Veil  of  Isis  held 
secret  from  our  sight;  you  have  sojourned  with  me 
among  the  tombs  of  the  past,  and  trod  upon  the  dust 
of  a  fallen  World. 

Let  us  now  return  from  these  caverns  of  learning 
to  the  glorious  day-light  of  the  Present,  and  to  the 
enjoyments  of  a  real  existence. 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX. 


Instead  of  disfiguring  the  pages  of  this  volume 
with  marginal  references,  which  no  one  examines, 
and  with  footnotes,  which  scarcely  any  one  reads,  I 
have  prepared  a  catalogue  of  the  works  consulted 
upon  the  subjects  of  Paganism,  the  Druids,  the  early 
Britons,  the  Roman  Catholics,  the  Freemasons,  and 
the  Folk-lore  of  our  peasants,  as  discussed  in  this 
work,  and  which,  though  an  imperfect  one,  is  suffi- 
cient as  a  pledge  of  my  industry  and  good  faith,  and 
as  a  guide  to  those  who  may  feel  inclined  to  illumine 
with  their  stronger  lights  that  upon  which  I  have 
but  thrown  the  faint  glimmer  of  a  green  torch. 


Catalogue  of  Works  consulted  for  the  Veil  of  Isis. 


Aberffraw  Royal  Eistedfodd, 
Transactions  of. 

Acta  Sanctorum,  ou  Chronologie 
de  l'Historie  de  la  Franche- 
Maronnene. 

Adam's  Letters  on  the  Masonic 
Institution. 

Adam's  Religious  World  Dis- 
played. 

TElian,  De  Natura  Animalium. 

Agathemeri,  Geographic  Expo- 
sitionum. 

Aglio,  Antiquities  of  Mexico. 


Alien's  Modern  Judaism. 
Alley's  Vindiciae  Christianae. 
Alphonso     Liguori,     Glorie8    of 

Mary. 
Ambrosii,  Opera. 
Annales  Cambriae. 
Anselm,     Liber    de    excellentiS 

gloriosas  Virginis  Mariie. 
Ansted's  Ancient  World. 
Antonini  Itinerarium. 
Anthologia  Graeca  e  recensione 

Brunckii. 
Appiani,  Historia. 


243 


244 


BppenMi. 


Appleyard's  Welsh  Sketches. 

Appolonii  Alexandrini,  Opera. 

Archaeologia  Cambrensis. 

Arcq,  Histoire  de  Commerce. 

Argentre,  Historie  de  Bretagne. 

Aristides,  Orationes. 

Aristotellis  Opera. 

Ashe,  Masonic  Manuel. 

Asiatic  Researches. 

Asplin's  Alkibla.or,  Disquisitions 
on  Worshipping  towards  the 
East. 

Astle,  on  Stone  Pillars,  Crosses, 
and  Crucifixes. 

Astle's  Origin  and  Progress  of 
Writing. 

Athanasii  Opena. 

Athenaei  Deipnosophistae. 

Avienii  Fragmenta. 

Ausonii  Epigrammata 

Authentic  History  of  Free- 
masonry. 

Auvergne,  Account  of  an  Histori- 
cal Monument  in  Brittany. 

Bacon's  Reliques  of  Rome. 

Bailey's  Rituale  Catholicum 

Baillet,  De  la  Devotion  a  la  Sainte 
Vierge. 

Bailli,  De  la  Grande  Bretagne 
Armorique. 

Baldwin's  (Archbishop),  Itiner- 
ary through  Wales. 

Banier,  Mythology. 

Barlow's  Adoration  of  the  Cross. 

Barrington's  Observations  upon 
the  Statutes. 

Basilii  Opera. 

Baur,  Symbolik  und  Mythologie. 

Baxter's  Glossarium  Antiquit- 
atum  Britannicarum. 

Beaudieu,  Memoire  &  consulter 
pour  les  Anciens  Druides. 

B  e  a  u  f  o  r  t ,  Legendes  et  Trad- 
itiones  populaires  de  la  France. 

Bedoe,  Historia  Ecclesiastica. 

Beke's  Origines  Biblicae. 

Benedictus  XIV.,  Works  of 

Bentham,  The  Gael  and  Cimbri. 

Berosus  et  Manetho  apud  Ense- 
bium. 

Beugnot,  Histoire  de  la  destruc- 
tion du  Paganisme  en  Occident. 

Bingham's  Christian  Antiquities. 

Bingley's  Tour  in  North  Wales. 


Blasio.  Thesaurus  Antiquitatum 
Sacrarum . 

Blunt's  Vestiges  of  Ancient  Cus- 
toms and  Manners  in  Modern 
Italy  and  Sicily. 

Bobrick's  Gerschichte  der  Frei- 
maurerey. 

Bolliger,  Ideen  zur  Kunst  Myth- 
ologie. 

Bonnechose,  L  es  Quatres  Con- 
qugtes  de  l'Angleterre. 

Bonnelier,  Les  Vieilles  Femmes 
d  Pile  de  Sein. 

Borelius,  Tresor  des  Recherches 
et  Antiquites  Gauloises. 

Borlase,  Natural  History  of  Corn- 
wall. 

Borlase,  Antiquities  of  Cornwall. 

B  o  u  1 1  a  nger,  L'Antiquite  De- 
voilee. 

Boullanger,  L  e  Christianisme 
Devoilee. 

Boullanger,  De  la  Cruaute  Re- 
ligieuse* 

Bourgneville,  Recherches  et  An- 
tiquites de  la  Province  de  Neu- 
strie. 

Bourne's  Antiquitates  Vulgares. 

Bowles,  Hermes  Britannicus. 

Brand's  History  of  Newcastle. 

Brand's  Observations  on  Popular 
Antiquities. 

Bretagne,  Les  Coustumes  du 
pays. 

Brewer's  Picture  of  England. 

Brewer's  Beauties  of  England  and 
Wales. 

British  Apollo  (The) 

Broughton's  Dictionary  of  all 
Religions. 

Browne's  History  of  the  High- 
lands and  Highland  clans. 

Brugsch  Inscnptio  Rosettana 
Hieroglyphica. 

Brunei,  Avant  le  Christianisme. 

Brut  Y. ,  Ty wysogion . 

Buat,  Histoire  des  Anciens  Peu- 

ples  d' Europe. 
Buat,  Les  Origines. 

Buck's  Theological  Dictionary. 
Buck's  View    of  Antiquities  in 

Wales. 
Buckland's  Reliquiae  Diluvianise. 
Burder's  Account  of  the  Idolatry 
of  Pagan  Nations. 


Hppenfcti. 


245 


Burder's  Oriental  Customs 
Burton's  History  of  Wales. 
Bush's  Hibernia  Curiosa. 
Busk's  Manners  and  Customs  of 

the  Japanese. 
Buttmann's  Mythologus. 

Caesaris  Commentari. 

Caledonion  Bards,  Works  of, 
translated  from  the  Gaelic. 

Calfhille's  Answere  to  the  Treat- 
ise of  the  Crosse. 

Calmet,  de  la  Poesie  et  Musique 
des  Anciens  H^breux. 

Calmet,  Dictionnaire  de  la  Bible. 

Cambrian  Popular  Antiquities. 

Cambro-Briton  and  General 
Celtic  Repository. 

Cambry,  Monumens  Celtiques. 

Camden's  Britannia. 

Campion's  History  of  Ireland. 

Capefigue,  Histoire  Philosoph- 
ique  des  Juifs. 

Capitolini  Orationes. 

Carew's  Survey  of  Cornwall. 

Cat  out  of  the  Bag,  containing  the 
whole  Secrets  of  the  Mysteries 
of  Freemasonry. 

Catulli  Carmina. 

Caumont,  Cours  d' Antiquities 
Monumentales. 

Caumont,  Abrecedaire,  ou  Rudi- 
ment d'Arch^ologie. 

Cawdy,  Concerning  Superstition, 
with  Worship,  and  Christmas 
Festival. 

Cellarii,  Notitia  Orbis  Antiqui. 

Centinela  contra  Frans-masones. 

Charmer's  Caledonia. 

Chamyollion,  Le  Jeune  Precis  du 
Systeme  Hieroglyphique  des 
Anciens  Egyptiens. 

Chastel,  Histoire  de  la  Destruc- 
tion du  Paganisme  dans  l'Em- 
pire  d'Orient. 

Chauncey's  History  and  Antiqui 
ties  of  Hertfordshire. 

Chorier,  Histoire  de  Dauphine. 

Chrysostomi  Opera. 

Churchill,  Divi  Britannici, 

Churchyard's  Worthies  of  Wales. 

Ciceronis  Opera. 

Clagnet,  Concerning  the  Invoca- 
tion of  the  Saints  and  the  Vir- 
gin Mary. 


Gavel,  L'histoire  pittoresque  de 
la  franc-maconnerie. 

Cleland's  Specimens  of  an  Etymo- 
logical Vocabulary. 

Cleland's  Essay  on  the  Real  Se- 
crets of  Freemasonry. 

Cligetoveus,  De  puritate  concep- 
tions benedictae  Mariae  Vir- 
ginis. 

Coate's  History  of  Reading. 

Collection  of  Letters  on  Freema- 
sonry. 

Collinson's  Beauties  of  England. 

Conder,  View  of  all  Religions. 

Confucius,  traduit  par  Gaubil. 

Constitutions  of  the  Freemasons. 

Cook's  Inquiry  into  the  Patri- 
archal and  Druidical  Religions. 

Corrozet,  Les  Antiquitez  Cron- 
iques  et  singularitez  de  Paris. 

Cory's  Fragments. 

Cory's  Mythological  Inquiry  into 
Heathen  recondite  Theology. 

Cory's  Metaphysical  Inquiry  into 
Ancient  and  Modern  Philoso- 
phy. 

Courson,  Histoire  des  Origines 
et  des  Institutions  des  Peuples 
de  la  Gaule  Armoricaine. 

Courson,  Histoire  des  Peuples 
Bretons. 

Crantz,  History  of  Greenland. 

Crawfurd's  Researches. 

Cressy's  Church  History. 

Creuzer,  Symbolik  und  Mytholo- 
gie. 

Cumberland's  Origines  Gentes 
Antiquissimae. 

Cuvier,  Researches  sur  les  Osse- 
ments  Fossiles  des  Quadru- 
ples. 

Cymmroddion,  or  Metropolitan 
Cambrian  Society,  Transac- 
tions of. 

Dafenbach,  Celtica  Sprachliche 
Documente  zur  Geschichte  der 
Kelten. 

Dale,  Dissertationes  de  Origine 
ac  Progressu  Idolatriae. 

Dalrymple.Disquisitions  concern- 
ing the  Antiquities  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church. 

Daniel,  Thesaurus  Hymnologi- 
cus. 


246 


Appendix. 


Daniel,  Codex  Liturgicus. 

Daru,  Histoire  de  Bretagne. 

Davis,  Ancient  Rites  and  Monu- 
ments of  the  Monastical  and 
Cathedral  Church  of  Durham. 

Davies,  Dictionarium  Antiquae 
Linguae  Britannicae. 

Davies,  Welsh  Botanology. 

Davies,  Celtic  Researches. 

Davies,  Rites  and  Ceremonies  of 
the  Druids. 

Davies,  Cambro-Britannicae  Cym- 
raecoeve  Linguae  Institutiones 
et  Rudimenta. 

Deane's  Worship  of  the  Serpent. 

De  la  Rue.  Essias  Historiques 
sur  les  Bardes. 

Delaune's  Plea  for  Nonconform- 
ists. 

Der  Friedenker  in  der  Maurerei. 

Der  Freimaurer  orden  in  seiner 
Nichtigkeit. 

De  Rossi,  Bibliotheca  Judaica  et 
Anti-Christiana. 

Developpement  des  abus  intro- 
duits  dans  la  Franc-macon- 
nerie. 

Dictionnaire  Historique  des 
cultes  Religieux. 

Didon,  Histoire  Sainte. 

Diez,  Leben  und  Werke  der 
Troubadours. 

Diodori  Siculi  Opera. 

Dioscoridis,  Historia. 

Dodridge's  Account  of  the  Prin- 
cipality of  Wales. 

Dorothoei  Synopsis  Varium  His- 
toriarum. 

Druids,  Complete  History  of 

Druid's   Magazine. 

Druidess  (the),  a  Tale,  translated 
from  the  German. 

Duchesne,  Historian  Normanor- 
um  Scriptores  Antiqui. 

Duclos,  Memores  sur  les  Druides. 

Du  Halde's  History  of  China. 

Dulaure,  Cultes  qui  out  precede 
et  amene  l'ldolatrie  ou  l'Ador- 
ation  des  Figures  Humaines. 

Dupuis,  Origine  de  tous  les  cults. 

Dupuis,  Analyse  raisonn6e  de 
l'Origine  de  tous  les  Cultes. 

Early  History  of  the  Cymry. 
Eastcott,  Sketches  of  the  Origin. 
Progress  and  Effects  of  Music. 


Eccleston's  Introduction  to  Eng- 
lish Antiquities. 
Encyclopcedia    of  Religious 

Knowledge. 
Enderbie's  Cambria  Triumphans. 
Enoch,  Le  Vrai  Franc-macon. 
Ernstin's  Ad  Antiquitates  Etrus- 

cas. 
Esprit  du  Dogme  de  la  Franche- 

Magonnerie. 
Essex,  On  Origin  and  Antiquity 

of  Round  Churches. 
Estienne,  Apologie  pour  Herod- 

ote. 
Etymologicium  Magnum  Syl- 

burgii. 
Eusebii  Opera. 
Evan's  Specimens  of  the  Poetry 

of  the  Ancient  Welsh  Bards. 
Evan's  British  Herbal. 
Evan's     Gwinlanny     Bardd     sef 

Pryddwaith  ar  Cymry ive  des- 

tunau  a  Gwahanol  Fesurau. 
Evan's  Tour  in  South  Wales. 
Evan's  Dissertatio  de  Bardis. 
Evelyn's  Sibra. 
Evvald,  Briefe  uber  d'alte  Mystik 

und  den  neuen  Mysticismus. 
Explanation  of  the  Masonic  Plate. 

Faber's  Mysteries  of  the  Cabiri. 

Faber's  Origin  of  Pagan  Idolatry. 

Fairholt's  Costume  in  England. 

Fane  of  the  Druids.     A  Poem. 

Farrar's  Ecclesiastical  Diction- 
ary. 

Fauchet,  Les  Antiquitez  Gaul- 
oises. 

Fellow's  Exposition  of  the  Mys- 
terious Dogmas  of  the  Ancient 
Egyptians. 

Firmicus,  de  Errore  profanarum 
Religionum. 

Fleury,  Moeurs  des  Israelites  et 
des  Chretiens. 

Fontenelie,  Histoire  des  Oracles. 

Forster's  One  Primeval  Lan- 
guage. 

F  o  s  b  rohe's  Encyclopaedia  ot 
Antiquities. 

Foster's  Sketches  of  the  Mythol- 
ogy of  the  Hindoos. 

Fouqu6's,  Sir  Elidoc,  an  old  Bre- 
ton Legend. 


appendix. 


247 


Foye's  Romish  Rites,  Offices, 
and  Legends. 

Francs-Macons,  leurs  Devoirs, 
Statuts,  ou  Reglements  gener- 
aux. 

Freeman,  on  Great  and  Good 
Effects  of  the  Universal  Medi- 
cine of  the  Magi. 

Freemasons  (the),  an  Hudibra- 
stick  Poem. 

Freemasonry,  its  Pretensions 
Exposed. 

Freemasonry  in  Europe  during 
the  Past  Century. 

Freemason's  Occupation  and  De- 
fense in  Six  Letters 

Freret,  Academe  des  Inscriptions. 

Froissart,  Chroniques  de 

Fuller's  Church  History. 

Gallicarum  et  Francicarum  rerum 

Scriptores. 
Grennadius  De  Illustribus  Eccle- 

siae  Scriptoribus. 
Gerhard,  Archaeolog-Zeitung. 
Getty's  Notices  of  Chinese  Seals 

found  in  Ireland. 
Gildae  Sapientis  de  Excidio  Brit- 

anniae. 
Giraldi  Cambrensis,  Expugnatio 

Hiberniae. 
Giraldi  Cambrensis.Topographia 

Hibernica. 
Giraldi  Cambrensis,  Itinerarium 

Cambrice. 
Giraldi     Cambrensis,    Itinarium 

Cambrine. 
Gliddon's  Otia  Egyptiaca. 
Good's  Description  of  Manners 

and  Customs  of  the  Wild  Irish. 
Graevius    Thesaurus    Antiquital- 

ium  Romanarum. 
Grant's  Superstitions  of  the  High- 
landers. 
Grave's  History  of  Cleveland. 
Grimm,  Deutsche  Mythologie. 
Grove's  Antiquities  of  Ireland. 
Grose's   View  of  Antiquities  of 

Wales. 
Grose's  Provincial  Glossary. 
Guenebault  Dictionnaire  Incono- 

grapeique  des  Monuments  de 

l'Antiquite  Chretienne. 
Guerin  du  Rocher,  Histoire  ver- 
itable des  Temps  fabuleux. 


Guest  (Lady  Charlotte),  Mabin- 

ogion. 
Guthrie,  Dissertation  sur  lesAn- 

tiquites  de  Russie. 

Hakewell's  Antiquity  of  Christian 
Religion  in  Britain. 

Hale's  History  of  the  Jews. 

Halliwell's  Early  History  of  Free- 
masonry in  England. 

Hall's  Triumphs  of  Rome. 

Hammer's  History  of  Ireland. 

Hammer,  Memore  sur  la  culte  de 
Mithra. 

Hardiman's  Irish  Minstrelsy. 

Hasted's  History  of  Kent. 

Hawkin's  History  of  Music. 

Hall's  Chronicle  of  England. 

Hammer's  History  of  Ireland. 

Heeren's  Historical  Researches. 

Heggesippi  Opera. 

Henry's  History  of  England. 

Henry,  l'Egypte  Pharonique. 

Henry,  Histoire  du  Christianis- 
me. 

Herbert's  Britannia  after  the 
Romans. 

Herbert's  Britannia  Sancta. 

Herbert's  Cyclops  Christianus. 

Herbert's  Essay  on  the  Neo- 
Druidists. 

Herodianus. 

Herodotis,  Historiae. 

Heroic  Elegies  of  Llywarch  Hen. 

Herrick's  Hesperides. 

Hervart,  De  Antiquissima  Veter- 
um  Nationium  Superstitione. 

Higden's  Polychronicon. 

History  of  Anglesey. 

Histoirie  of  Gieat  Britaine. 

Hoech,  Veteris  Mediae  et  Persiae 
Monumenta. 

Holwell's  Mythological  Diction- 
ary. 

Hollwell's  Fasts  and  Festivals  of 
the  Hindoos. 

Hope's  Costume  of  the  Ancients. 

Horatii  Opera. 

Horsley's  Britannia  Romana. 

Howel,  Ancient  Laws  and  Insti- 
tutes of  Wales. 

Holinshed's  Chronicles  of  Eng- 
land, Ireland,  and  Scotland. 

Hughes  Horae  Britannicae. 


248 


BppenMi. 


Humboldt's  Researches  on  An- 
cient Inhabitants  of  America. 

Hurd's  Rites  and  Ceremonies  of 
the  Whole  World. 

Hutchinson's  History  of  Cumber- 
land. 

Husbandman's  Practice  and 
Prognostication  for  Ever. 

Hyde,  Veterum  Persarum  Par- 
thorium  etMedorum  Religionis 
Historia. 

I.  T.,  Collection  of  Welsh  Trav- 
els. 

Identity  of  Religions  called  He- 
brew and  Druidic. 

Inne's  Critical  Essay  on  Ancient 
Inhabitants  of  Scotland. 

Institutio  Archceol.  Monument, 
Antichi,  Inediti. 

Instructions  des  Trois  premier. 
Grades  de  la  Franche-Macon- 
nerie. 

Introduction  to  Freemasonry. 

Iolo,  Manuscripts,  Selection  of 
Ancient  Welsh  MSS. 

Ionian  Antiquities,  by  Chandler 
Revelt  and  Pars. 

I  s  i  d  o  r  i,  Hispalensis  Episcopi 
Opera. 

Jablonski,  Pantheon  iEgyptior- 
um. 

Tablonski,  Opuscula. 

Jackson's  Chronological  Antiqui- 
ties. 

Jacquemin  le  Franc-mason. 

Jacquin  et  Duesberg,  Dictionnaire 
d'Antiquites  Chretiennes. 

Jamblicus  de  Mysteriis. 

Jamblicus  de  Vita  Pythagorica. 

James,  Patriarchal  Religion  of 
Britain. 

Jamieson,  History  of  the  Culdees. 

Jenning's  Jewish  Antiquities. 

Johnstone's  Antiquitates  Celto- 
normanicae. 

Johnstone's    Antiquitates  Celto- 

Jones'  Bardic  Museum  of  Primi- 
tive British  Literature. 

Jone's  History  of  Wales. 

Jones'  Musical  and  Poetical  Rel- 
icks  of  the  Welsh  Bards. 


Jones'  Scripture  Antiquities. 
Jones'Illustrations  of  the  National 

History    of  the     Snowdonian 

Mountains. 
Jones'  Stonehenge  Restored. 
Jormandez,    De     Getarum    sive 

Gothorum  Origine. 
Josephi,  Antiquitates  et  Bellum 

Judaicum. 
Juvenahs  Satyrse. 

Kaufmann    et  Cherpin   Histoire 

Philosophique     de    la    Franc- 

masonnerie. 
Keightley's  Mythology  of  Greece 

and  Italy. 
Kenrick's  Ancient  Egypt  under 

the  Pharoahs. 
Kenrick's  Phenica. 
Ker's  Archaeology  of  our  popular 

Phrases. 
Keyser's  Religion  of  Northmen, 

trans. 
Keyser,  De  De&  NehalenniS. 
Keysler,     Antiquitates     Selectae 

Septentrionaies. 
Keysler,  de  culta  Solis. 
Kidd's  China. 
King,  Rites  and  Ceremonies  of 

the  Greek  Church  in  Russia. 
Knight's  Inquiry  into  the  Sym- 
bolical  Language   of  Ancient 

Art  and  Mythology. 
Knight,  on  the  Worship  of  Pri- 

apus. 
Krasinki,  Lectures  on  Religious 

History  of  Sclavonic  Nations. 
Kruase,  die  Drei  altesten  Kuns- 

lurkunden  der  deutschen  Frei- 

maurer  Bruderschaft. 

Lacombe,  Dictionnaire  du  vieux 
Langage  Francois. 

Lafitau,  Mceurs  des  Sauvages 
Americaines. 

Landon,  Ecclesiastical  Diction- 
naire. 

Lane's  Egyptian  Antiquities. 

Lasteyrie,  History  of  Auricular 
Confession. 

Latour-d'Auvergne  Corret,  Ori- 
gines  Gauloises. 

Layamon's  Brut  or  Chronicle  of 
Britain. 


BppenMx. 


249 


Layard's  Nineveh  and  its  Re- 
mains. 

Leblanc,  Etude  sur  le  Symbolis- 
me  Druidique. 

Leblanc,  Les  Religions  et  leur 
Interpretation. 

LeBlanc,  Les  Druides,  une  trag- 
edie. 

Le  Brun,  Les  Superstitions  An- 
cienes  et  Modernes. 

Lebrun,  Explication  des  Prie>es 
et  des  Ceremonies  de  la  Messe. 

Ledwich's  Antiquities  of  Ireland. 

Ledwich's  History  of  Ireland.  _ 

Lefranc,  Voile  leve  pour  les  Curie- 
uses. 

Legonidec,  Grammaire  Celto- 
Bretonne. 

Legonidec  Dictionnaire  Francois- 
Breton. 

Le  Grand,  les  Vies  des  Saints  de 
la  Bretagne  Insulaire. 

Lelandi,  de  Rebus  Britannicis 
Collectanea. 

Lenoir,  Warden,  &c. ,  Antiquites 
Mexicaines. 

L'Etoile  flamboyante. 

Lewis,  Origines  Hebrse. 

Lewis,  History  of  Great  Britain. 

Lewis,  History  of  Antiquities  of 
the  Isle  of  Thanet. 

Libanii  Epistolse. 

Link,  Le  Monde  Primitif. 

Literature  of  Wales. 

Lingard's  History  of  England. 

Llhuyd  (Char.)  Britannic®  Des- 
criptionis  Fragmentum. 

Llhuyd,  Britannicse  Descriptionis 
Commentariolum. 

Llhuyd's  Archeelogia  Britannica. 

Llhuyd's  (Nat.)  History  and  An- 
tiquities. 

Llhuyd,  National  History  of  An- 
tiquities of  Scotland  and  Ire- 
land. 

Llhuyd's  History  of  Cambria. 

Llhuyd's  Breviary  of  Bretaine. 

Llhuyd's  History  of  the  Antiqui- 
ties of  Scotland  and  Ireland. 

Llhuyd's  Beamaris  Bay. 

Lobineau,  Histoire  de  Bretagne. 

Logan's  Scottish  Garl. 

Lodge's  Incarnate  Divells. 

Lucani,  Pharsalia. 


Lucas'  Description  of  Avebury. 
Lyson's  Magna  Britannia. 

Macaulay's  History  of  St.  Kilda. 

Macculloch's  Description  of  the 
Western  Isles  of  Scotland. 

Magonnerie  (La)  Po£me  en  trois 
chants. 

Macpherson's  Introduction  to  the 
History  of  Great  Britain. 

Mailet  et  Le  Masoirer,  Descrip- 
tion de  1' Egypt. 

Maistre  de,  Les  Soirees  de  St. 
Petersbourg. 

Maitland's  History  and  Antiqui- 
ties of  Scotland. 

Mallet's  Northern  Antiquities. 

Marcellini  (Ammiani)  Opera. 

Marchangy,  Gaule  Poetique. 

Marchangy,  Tristan  le  Voyageur. 

Mare"chal,  Voyages  de  Pytha- 
goras. 

Marheinike,  Christliche  Syra- 
bolik. 

Marlot,  Histoire  de  Reims. 

Marmier  Chants  Populaires  du 
Nord. 

Marsden,  History  of  Christian 
Churches  and  Sects. 

Marsh,  Horse  Pelasgicae. 

Martene,  De  Antiquis  Eccleseae 
Ritibus. 

Marston's  Chronicle  of  England. 

Martialis,  Epigrammata. 

Martial's  Treatyse  of  the  Crosse. 

Martial  d'Auvergne,  Devotes 
louanges  &  la  Vierge  Marie. 

Martin's  Description  of  the  West- 
ern Isles  of  Scotland. 

Martin,  Religion  des  Gaulois. 

Martin's  History  and  Antiquities 
of  Eastern  India. 

Mascou's  History  of  Ancient  Ger- 
mans. 

Masonry  Dissected, or  the  Secrets 
of  the  Mysterious  Order  Re- 
vealed. 

Masonry,  the  same  all  over  the 
World. 

Master-key  to  Freemasonry. 

Maternus,  De  Errore  Profanarum 
Religionum. 

Maule's  History  of  the  Picts. 

Maurice's  Indian  Antiquities. 


250 


BppenDu. 


Mayo's  Mythology. 

Melae  Pomponii,  Opera. 

Memoires  de  la  Societe  Royale 
des  Antiquaires  du  Nord. 

Meril,  Melanges  Archeologiques 
et  Litt<5raires. 

Messe  (la)  et  ses  Mysteres,  com- 
pares aux  Mysteres  Anciens. 

Migne,  Encyclopedic  Theologi- 
que. 

Millin,  Galerie  Mythologique. 

Milman's  History  of  Christianity. 

Milner's  Inquiry  into  certain  Vul- 
gar Opinions  respecting  the 
Catholic  Inhabitants  of  Ireland. 

Minucii  Felicis,  Opera. 

Mischna,  sive  totius  Hebraeorum 
Juris  Rituium  Antiquitatum  ac 
Legum  Oratium  Systema. 

Missale  Romanum. 

Miss  on,  Travels  in  England 
(translated). 

Moke,  Mceurs,  Usuages,  Fe"tes,  et 
Solemnites  des  Beiges. 

Montiers,  Le  Sommaire  des  An- 
tiquitez  et  Merveilles  d'Ecose. 

Moore's  History  of  Devonshire. 

Moore's  History  of  Ireland. 

Morice,  Preuves  de  PHistoire  de 
Bretagne. 

Morini,  Antiquitates  Ecclesiae 
Orientalis. 

Morison's  Religious  History  of 
Man. 

Moroni,  Dizionario  Ecclesiastico. 

Motherwell's  Minstrelsy,  Ancient 
and  Modern. 

Muratori,  Novus  Thesaurus  Vet- 

erum  Inscriptionum. 

Murtadi,  History  oi  the  Pyramids 
of  Egypt. 

Musgrave,  Antiquitates  Britanno- 
Belgicce. 

Mussard's  Conformity  between 
Ancient  and  Modern  Ceremo- 
nies. 

Myrvyrian,  Archaeology  of  Wales. 

Naogeorgus'  Popish  Kingdome. 
Neercassel,   on   Worship  of  the 

Saints  and  the  Virgin. 
Nemesiani,  Eclogae. 
Nennii,  Eulogium  Britanniae. 
Nibbi,  Elementi  di  Archeologiae. 


Nimrod's  Discourse  upon  certain 
passages  in  History  and  Fable. 

Nolten's  Conspectus  Thesauri 
Antiquitatum  Germanicarum. 

Northern  Antiquities,  by  Sir  W. 
Scott,  H.  Weber,  and  R.  Jamie- 
son. 

Nouveau  Cat6chisme  des  Franc- 


O'Brien's  Round  Towers  of  Ire- 
land. 

QZltinger,  Archives,  Historiques. 

O'Flaherty's  Ogygia. 

O'Halloran's  History  of  Ireland. 

Oliver's  Star  of  Glory. 

Oliver's  Theocratic  Philosophy  of 
Freemasonry. 

Oliver's  Jacob's  Ladder. 

Oliver's  Institutes  of  Masonic 
Jurisprudence, 

Oliver's  Insignia  of  the  Royal 
Arch. 

Oliver's  Mirror  for  the  Johannite 
Masons. 

Oliver's  Revelations  of  a  Square. 

Oliver's  History  of  Freemasonry. 

Oliver's  Existing  Remains  of  An- 
cient Britons. 

Oliver's  Book  of  the  Lodge. 

Oliver's  Star  in  the  East. 

Oliver's  History  of  Initiation. 

Oliver's  Antiquities  of  Freema- 
sonry. 

Oliver's  Dictionary  of  Symbolic 
Masonry. 

Oliver's  Golden  Remains  of  the 
Early  Masonic  Writers. 

Oliver's  Signs  and  Symbols,  illus- 
trated and  explained. 

Oliver's  Historical  Land-Marks 
of  Freemasonry. 

Oppiani  Halieutica. 

L'Orateur  Franc-macon. 

L'Ordre  des  Francs-ma9ons. 

Origenis  Opera. 

Orme's  History  of  England. 

Orosii  Historae. 

Orphei  Argonautica. 

Osborne's  Advice  to  his  Son. 

Osborne's  Antiquities  of  Egypt. 

Ossianic  Society,  Transactions  of. 

Ovidii  Opera. 

Owen's  British  Remains. 


HppenMi, 


251 


Owen's  History  of  Consecration 
of  Altars  and  Churches. 

P  *  *  *  (Madame  de),  Recherches 
Philosophiques  sur  les  Egyp- 
tiens  et  les  Chinois. 

Paciaudi,  Treatise  on  Ancient 
Crosses  found  at  Ravenna 

Palmer's  Origines  Liturgicae. 

Pamphili  Chronica. 

Parfait  Macjon  (le). 

Parkinson's  Collectanea,  Anglo- 
Minoritica. 

Parson's  Remains  of  Japhet. 

Pasquier,  Recherches  de  la 
France. 

Pauthier,  Essai  sur  l'origine  et  la 
formation  similaire  des  ecrit- 
ures  Egyptiens  et  Chinois. 

Pauw,  Recherches  Philosophi- 
ques  sur  les  Americains. 

Pauzer,  Beitrag  zur  Deutschen 
Mythologie. 

Pechey,  Upon  the  Serpent  Stones 
imported  from  the  East  Indies. 

Pelloatier,  Histoire  des  Celtes. 

Percy's  Reliques  of  Ancient  Min- 
strelsy. 

Peirie's  Round  Towers  of  Ire- 
land. 

Peyrat,  Histoire  et  Religion. 

Philosophy  of  Masons. 

Pictet,  De  1'AfhnittS  de  Langues 
Celtes  avec  le  Sanscrit. 

Pictet,  La  Mystere  des  Bardes  de 
l'lle  de  Bretagne. 

Pieces  melees  paur  sevir  §,  1'His- 
toire  de  la  Magonnerie. 

Piper,  Mythologie  undSymboiik. 

Pitre  (Chevalier),  Bretagne,  An- 
cienns  et  Moderne. 

Plinii,  Historia  Naturalis. 

Plot's  Natural  History  of  Oxford- 
shire. 

Plot's  Natural  History  of  Stafford- 
shire. 

Plutarchi  Opera. 

Polenus,  Miscellanea  Eruditae 
Antiquitatis. 

Polwhele's  History  of  Cornwall. 

Polwhele's  History  of  Devon- 
shire. 

Polwhele's  Language  and  Liter- 
ature of  Cornwall. 

Polvhii  Opera. 


Poole's  horee  Egyptiacse. 
Portal,  Coleurs  Symboliques  dans 

l'Antiquit6. 
Portal,   Symbols   des    Egyptiens 

comparers     a   ceux    des   He- 

breux, 
Postal,  Couleurs  Symboliques. 
Poste's  Britannic  Researches. 
Powel's  Historia  of  Cambria. 
Price's  Historia?  Britannicas  De- 

fensio. 
Prichard's  Analysis  of  Egyptian 

Mythology. 
Prichard's  Eastern  Origin  of  the 

Celtic  Nations. 
Prichard's  Songs  of  the  Aborig- 
inal Bards  of  Britain. 
Prideaux'  Connections. 
Proscopini  Opera. 
Prosperi  Aquitani  Opera. 
Ptolomaei  Geographia  Berth. 
Pugin,  Glossary  of  Ecclesiastical 

Ornament  and  Costume. 

Quatremere,  Memoires  G  e  o  - 
graphiques  et  Historiques  sur 
1'Egypte. 

Quintillianis  Institutiones  Ora- 
tionae. 

Quiiiet,  Genie  des  Religions. 

R.  B.  History  of  Wales. 

Rafn,  Antiquites  Americaines. 

Rammohun  Roy's  Translation  of 
the  Vedas. 

Rangabe,  Antiquites  Helleniques. 

Rawlinson's  Cruciform  Inscrip- 
tions of  Babylon  and  Assyria. 

Rebold,  Histoire  g^nerale  de  la 
Franc-Mavonneri. 

Recherches  Philosophiques  sur 
les  Americaines. 

Recherches  Philosophiques  sur 
les  Egyptiens. 

Ree's  Essay  on  the  Welch  Saints. 

Richard  f  Circencester,  Descrip- 
tion of  Britain. 

Riddle's  Manual  of  Christian  An- 
tiquities. 

Ridpath's  Border  History. 

Rimbault's  Old  Songs  and  Bal- 
lard's. 

Rock's  Hserugia. 

Robert's  Sketch  of  the  Early  His- 
tory of  the  Cymry. 


252 


Bppen&u. 


Robert's  Early  History  of  the 
Britons. 

Robert's  Chronicle  of  Kings  of 
Britain. 

Robert's  Cambrian  Popular  An- 
tiquities. 

Robin,  Mont-Glonn,  ou  R  e  - 
cherches  Historiques  sur  l'ori- 
gines  des  Celtes. 

Robinson's  Theological  Diction- 
ary. 

Robison's  Proofs  (Masonic.-) 

Rollin,  Histoire  Ancienne. 

Rutillii  Opera. 

Sacrifices,  An  Essay  on  the  Or- 
igin and  Design  of. 

Sacy,  Histoire  des  Institutions  de 
Moise. 

Sanchoniatho's  Phenician  His- 
tory, {translated  by  Bishop 
Cumberland. 

Sale's  Alcoran. 

Savary,  Lettres  sur  l'Egypte. 

Saull's  Nottia  Britannica. 

Samme's  Britannia  Antiqua  Illus- 
trata. 

Schenkius  on  Images. 

Schuleri  Thesaurus  Antiquitati- 
um  Teutonicarum. 

Secret  History  of  the  Freema- 
sons. 

Secrets  of  the  Freemasons  re- 
vealed by  a  Disgusted  Brother. 

Sequestri  Opera, 

Seymour's  Pilgrimage  to  Rome. 

Shaw's  History  of  Staffordshire. 

Shaw,  Concerning  the  Blessed- 
ness of  the  Virgin  Mary. 

Sidonii  Opera. 

Sinclair's  Hill  and  Valley,  and 
Wales  and  the  Welsh. 

Skene's  Highlander's  of  Scot- 
land. 

Sloane,  of  the  Pretended  Serpent 
Stone. 

Smith's  Religion  of  the  Ancient 
Britons. 

Smith's  Sacred  Annals, 

Smith's  Gaelic  Researches. 

Smith's  Sean  Dana. 

Souvestre,  Les  Derniers  Bretons. 

Sozomeni  Opera. 

Speed's  History  of  Great  Britain. 


Spenser's  View  of  the  State  of 
Ireland, 

Squier's  American  Archcelogi- 
cal  Researches. 

Stafford  Ye  Femal  Glory. 

Stanlhurst,  De  Rebus  gestis  in 
Hibernia. 

Stephanii  Opera. 

Stephen's  Literature  of  the 
Kymry. 

Stillingfleet's  Originas  Sacrae. 

Strabonis  Geographia. 

Stukeley's  Stonehenge  and 
Abury. 

Stukeley's  Itinerarium  Curiosum. 

Stukeley's  Palseographic  Britan- 
nica. 

Stukeley's  Palaegraphia  Sacra. 

Stow's  Chronicles  of  Britain. 

Suetonii  Tranquilli  Opera. 

Sulpitii  Opera. 

Symmachii  Opera. 

T.  L.,  True  Account  of  Britons 
by. 

Taciti  Historic. 

Tavernier,  Six  Voyages  en  Tur- 
quie,  Perse,  et  aux  Indes. 

Theodoreti  Opera. 

Thiers'  Traite  des  Superstitions 
qui  regardent  les  Sacremens. 

Thory,  Acta  Latomorum. 

Thummel,  Mexike  und  die  Mexi- 
kaner. 

Tibulli  Opera. 

Tod's  Annals  and  Antiquities  of 
Rajah'stan. 

Toland's  History  of  the  Druids. 

Trenchard's  Natural  History  of 
Superstition. 

Trimegiste,  l'Art  d'Expliquer  les 
Songes. 

Turner's  Sacred  History. 

Turner's  Vindication  of  the  Gen- 
uineness of  Ancient  British 
Poems. 

Tyler's  Worship  of  the  Virgin 
Mary. 

Tyler's  Primitive  Christian  Wor- 
ship. 

Valerii  Opera. 

Vallencey,  Essay  on  Antiquity  of 

Irish  Languages. 
Vallencey,   On  Ancient  History 

of  Britannic  Isles. 


appenoti. 


-do 


Vallencey,  Collectanea  de  Rebus 
Hibernicis. 

Yaughan's  British  Antiquities. 

Vaux,  Ninevee  and  Persepolis. 

Vegetii  Opera. 

Vernati,  On  the  Medicinal  Nature 
of  Certain  Stone  found  in  the 
Indies  in  the  Head  of  a  Serpent. 

Verstegan,  Restitution  of  De- 
cayed Intelligence  in  Antiqui- 
ties. 

Vertot,  Historie  Critique  des  Bre- 
tons. 

Victoris,  Opera. 

Vergilii  .<Eneis. 

Vollstandige's  Gesanbuch  f  ii  r 
Friemaurer. 

Volney,  Recherches  Nouvelles 
sur  l'Histoire  Ancienne. 

Volney,  Les  Ruines,  &c. 

Vopisci,  Opera. 

Wace,  Le  Roman  de  Brut. 

Wachner,  Antiquitates  Hebrceor- 
um  et  Israeliticae  Gentis. 

Wachsmuth's  Historical  Antiqui- 
ties of  the  Greeks. 

Wakeman,  Archseologia  Hiber- 
nica. 

Wallography,  or  Britons  de- 
scribed. 

Ware,  de  Hibernia. 

Warner's  Walk  Through  Wales. 

Warrington's  History  of  Wales. 

Warton's  History  of  English  Poe- 
try. 

Webb's  Antiquities  of  China. 

Weever's  Ancient  Funeral  Mon- 
uments of  Great  Britain. 

Wellbeloved's  Eburacum. 


Welsh  Traditions. 

Werenfel's  Superstition. 

Whitaker's  History  of  the  Britons. 

Whitaker's  History  of  Manches- 
ter. 

Whittington's  Ecclesiastical  An- 
tiquities of  France. 

Wilhelmi  Malmesburiensis  Mon- 
achi,  gesta  rerum  Anglorum. 

William's  Poems,  Lyric  and  Pas- 
toral. 

William's  History  of  Monmouth- 
shire. 

William's  Dictionary  of  all  Relig- 
ions. 

William's  Masonry. 

William's  Ode  on  the  British 
Druids. 

William's  Ecclesiastical  Antiqui- 
ties of  the  Cymry. 

Wilson's  Archeeologica  Diction- 
ary. 

Wilson's  Nehustan. 

Wilson's  Vitis  Degeneris;  a  treat- 
ise on  Ancient  Ceremonies. 

Wilson's  Vishnu  Purana,  or  sys- 
tem of  Hindu  Mythology. 

Worde  Wynkyn  (de),  The  Myr- 
acles  of  our  Blessed  Ladie. 

Wotton's  Rabinical  Traditions. 

Wotton's  Leges  Wallicse. 

Wright's  Archaslogical  Album. 

Wright's  Celt,  Roman  and  Sax- 
on. 

Wright's  St.  Patrick's  Purgatory. 

Wright's  Louthiana. 

Wyndham's  Tour  Through 
Wales. 

Wynn's  History  of  Wales, 


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